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Directories Int'l Realty US Realty
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Amtrak Is In Jeopardy Stuart Lieberman, Esq., On June 15 a Congressional subcommittee approved a budget that eliminates Amtrak funding. This agrees with President Bush's proposal to do the same. I liked most of the President's funding proposals because they offer reductions in programs that appear to under-perform or not work at all. Our government needs to go on a diet and we need to eliminate pork and fat. But cutting Amtrak is a terrible idea. It is just another anti-environment proposal. Trains and mass transit are all good things. They need to be supported, subsidized and encouraged. SUVs are bad things that need to be taxed and discouraged. You might be thinking to yourself, "if it's not self-supporting without government aid, then why should it not be dropped?" But this thinking only works if you carry it to all forms of mass transit. Take, for example our roads, it's mass transit for the masses. In fact, they are the most pollution intensive and inefficient form of mass transit. Because Americans love their cars and the freedom they provide, roads are very heavily subsidized by the government. While some depend on tolls, most are "free." They're not really "free" as tax dollars pay for them, local, state, and federal tax dollars. The fact is that with the exception of a few toll roads, roads are 100 percent subsidized. Trains were romantic 50 years ago, before the airliners made them less glamorous, and less worthy of federal money. Never mind that they can, if properly operated, help reduce air pollution by taking cars off the road, especially the SUV. SUV's are major polluters, operating on tax subsidized roadways. You could ease road congestion with a better rail system, not to mention, the pollution caused by all of those vehicles when they're jammed on the highways. Of course, we are not getting rid of roads or cars but we, as a nation need to support common sense alternatives. The notion that rail should be scrapped because it is not self-sustaining is intellectually empty. Europe has it right. There is a vast system of international and domestic rail that people rely on every day. The northeast has always been Amtrak's strongest service area, but on the east coast, California has recently been doing very well. Clearly Amtrak isn't great. But it's on the right track (sorry). It needs money so that it becomes increasingly usable. It must be supported, not dismantled. Tell your Congressman that you think the President's bill and the Subcommittee's approval are wrong. It's just more disregard of our environment, and another vote for big oil and big business.
The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.
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