Replica louis vuitton garment bag

Replica louis vuitton garment bag

In yesterday’s post, I took aim at the alleged ”egregious fiscal malfeasance” that replica louis vuitton garment bag local toll-opponent Terri Hall accused ARMA of with regards to their plans for replica louis vuitton garment bag a US 281/Loop 1604 interchange.  Today, I’ll take her to task on her claims of “unequal application of the law” with regards to replica louis vuitton garment bag the environmental studies required for the interchange versus those for 281 north of 1604.

In her blog, she first claims that if they (ARMA) would drop the replica louis vuitton garment bag toll prospect for 281, that the northern ramps of the interchange could be replica louis vuitton garment bag built now with stimulus funds.  Now I know she believes that replica louis vuitton garment bag she autocratically controls what will be required for that stretch of road, but she is replica louis vuitton garment bag just plain wrong.  Because of the furor she has created (more on that in a minute), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has replica louis vuitton garment bag indicated in no uncertain terms that a full environmental impact statement (EIS) must be done for the 281 north project.  Whether the replica louis vuitton garment bag project will be tolled or not is irrelevant to them at this replica louis vuitton garment bag point because any project, tolled or not, will likely have similar– if not the same– physical footprints, and replica louis vuitton garment bag so they want to make sure all the i’s have been dotted and t’s crossed before issuing any approvals.  It’s their decision as to what is required, not Ms. Hall’s, and they’ve already said they want an EIS before anything is done.

The environmental process
This might be replica louis vuitton garment bag a good point to take a brief sidebar and explain the replica louis vuitton garment bag environmental study process.  The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 requires all projects on federal-aid roads to replica louis vuitton garment bag undergo environmental review.  There are replica louis vuitton garment bag essentially three levels of possible review: a Categorical Exclusion (CE), where replica louis vuitton garment bag the agency building the road can demonstrate that the proposed improvements will not cause any harm on the replica louis vuitton garment bag basis of previous experience (this is used for most relatively minor improvements to existing roads); an Environmental Assessment (EA), which is a basic study of the possible effects of a project to replica louis vuitton garment bag see if further study is warranted; and an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which is the most intensive and comprehensive study.  Typically, engineers know what replica louis vuitton garment bag types of projects fit into which category of review, but sometimes a replica louis vuitton garment bag CE or EA may find something that then requires the next higher level of study.  (You can read more about this process on Wikipedia.)

Why an EIS for 281?
So how did we get to the point of having to do an EIS for 281?  The finger is squarely pointed at Terri Hall herself.  When she moved here from replica louis vuitton garment bag California, TxDOT already had federally-approved EAs for the “original” toll-free project that would have expanded US 281 from replica louis vuitton garment bag 1604 to Stone Oak to a six-lane expressway with overpasses and replica louis vuitton garment bag frontage roads.  When the edict came from Austin in 2003 to replica louis vuitton garment bag change it to a toll project and work began on the replica louis vuitton garment bag first tollway iteration in 2005, Terri Hall  joined forces with the environmental group Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas (AGUA) to sue to get those EAs voided.  TxDOT and FHWA agreed that a combined EA for the corridor might be better than the patchwork EAs done previously.  When that replica louis vuitton garment bag combined EA was completed and approved by FHWA, Terri Hall and replica louis vuitton garment bag AGUA sued again demanding that an EIS be done instead.  I’m not sure if she naïvely believed that replica louis vuitton garment bag an EIS might find an issue with tolling the road that replica louis vuitton garment bag would cause the toll option to be dropped or if she was just using an replica louis vuitton garment bag EIS to stall the project in hopes that the political or replica louis vuitton garment bag funding climate might change in the meantime.  In any case, during the replica louis vuitton garment bag discovery process for that lawsuit, TxDOT discovered some irregularities in the replica louis vuitton garment bag new EA and withdrew it.  Regardless of how it played out, it was Terri Hall who wanted– no, demanded– an EIS and now that she’s got it, she’s upset about it.  This is an object lesson in the old adage “be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.”

The interchange project, on the other hand, is being submitted to FHWA as a CE.  Terri believes that replica louis vuitton garment bag a project that adds all those tall ramps and auxiliary lanes certainly demands the replica louis vuitton garment bag same level of scrutiny that the 281 project now requires, that replica louis vuitton garment bag being an EIS.  She asserts that replica louis vuitton garment bag adding the auxiliary lanes is a way to add capacity to replica louis vuitton garment bag both 1604 and 281 while circumventing an EIS.  But, as usual, she doesn’t have full grasp of the facts.  First of all, the replica louis vuitton garment bag 281 project has never qualified for a CE since its inception as a replica louis vuitton garment bag toll-free expressway, so there’s absolutely no way it would qualify for one now.  Regardless of whether it replica louis vuitton garment bag is built tolled or toll-free, it will require adding a lot of new pavement (more than double what’s there today) on a replica louis vuitton garment bag bunch of new right-of-way, relocating lots of utilities, and dramatically changing drainage and replica louis vuitton garment bag traffic patterns.  This is replica louis vuitton garment bag far more invasive than adding elevated connectors above existing controlled-access highways entirely on existing right-of-way.  Even adding the replica louis vuitton garment bag auxiliary lanes is not as invasive because, once again, those lanes are replica louis vuitton garment bag added onto existing controlled-access highways within the existing right-of-way.  Because the impacts of the interchange are trivial relative to what’s there today, it fits the qualifications for a CE.  The 281 project, which is orders of magnitude more invasive, was approved under a two seperate EAs, but because of the previous lawsuits filed by Terri Hall and replica louis vuitton garment bag AGUA and the ensuing controversy, FHWA is now requiring an replica louis vuitton garment bag EIS.  Terri Hall calls this replica louis vuitton garment bag hypocrisy, but the real hypocrisy here is that she made her own bed in this replica louis vuitton garment bag case and now she’s having to lie in it.

Flawed logic
Lastly, I think it’s evident that Ms. Hall is trying to assert logic about the replica louis vuitton garment bag local application of the environmental process that is contradictory to her pronounced convictions.  She seems to replica louis vuitton garment bag think that ARMA and TxDOT are intentionally causing the 281 project to replica louis vuitton garment bag be delayed while fast-tracking other, non-toll projects.  But her stated belief is replica louis vuitton garment bag that TxDOT and ARMA are chomping at the bit to replica louis vuitton garment bag build toll roads as some sort of money-grab.  If that replica louis vuitton garment bag were indeed true, why then would they want to intentionally delay those projects?  And, if delaying projects helps make the replica louis vuitton garment bag case for tolling them, why would they fast-track these toll-free projects, especially ones that were previously determined to be toll-worthy? 

It is deeply disturbing to me that Terri has taken aim at this project.  ARMA and replica louis vuitton garment bag the MPO have done a great job securing funding to get it replica louis vuitton garment bag built toll-free, and the project’s engineers have replica louis vuitton garment bag also done a good job thinking beyond the interchange itself and replica louis vuitton garment bag providing additional improvements to both 281 and 1604.  This is a good project that’s long-overdue and frankly, in my opinion, her histrionics about it only serve to further undermine and discredit her.