What Kind of Legacy is This?

In Sunday's Salt Lake Tribune opinion titled "Give negotiated Legacy solution a chance to work" Bob Alder takes Sen. Orrin Hatch to task for Orrin's "11th hour, 59th minute" attempt to "add to the federal transportation bill a secret 'rider' that would have pre-empted the Legacy negotiations completely."  I agree with Mr. Alder that this was a bad solution, appearing to be a political re-election stunt.  But that's also where my agreement with Mr. Alder ends.

During Orrin's over 28 years in the U.S. Senate, he has had plenty of time to work on fixing National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act, but, from my perspective, he has accomplished nothing to improve the process for developing transportation systems.  Instead we live in a world where the actions of Congress have resulted in widespread gridlock and the destruction of an effective national transportation system through wasted tax monies and crippling litigation.

Mr Alder portrays the proposed Legacy Highway lawsuit as an opportunity for dialogue, but it's important to note that he only appears to want the dialogue once the plaintiffs shopped the courts for a favorable ruling and the defendants are preparing to return to court with revised materials (note: the first judge ruled in favor of the highway, but the plaintiffs couldn't drop it there.  They had to continue on to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals).  Mr Alder talks about a "constructive, win-win solution", but since his proposal doesn't appear to be based on science, but rather feel-good environmentalism, we are likely destined for a lose-lose solution even if a settlement proposal is adopted (disclaimer: I'm an engineer.  Science is based on data and analysis.  I like data and analysis.  I've seen neither from the plaintiffs.).  And those increased costs?  Most of them appear to be due to the increased costs for construction materials as a result of delaying construction.

So the next time you're wondering why you're stuck in traffic, why  an important highway (with almost 90% support in Davis Co. and 70% support in Salt Lake Co.) isn't being built, and why your taxes are so high, remember it's just a little gift from the U.S. Congress and their friends in the environmental community.

Comments

[Reach Upward]

The Trib article also got my goat. Thanks for pointing out more of what Senator Hatch's seemingly indispensible seniority has brought us.

[wilf]

I've just got to comment on Mr. Adler's piece as well. He called the negotiations on the Legacy underway now a "joint citizens/UDOT proposal."

Citizens? I can show you poll results from all along the Wasatch Front that indicated over 80 percent of Davis County residents, and nearly 70 percent in Salt Lake County, were in favor of the Legacy Parkway as proposed. So how can Mr. Adler appropriately call this a "citizens" proposal being negotiated by his organization?

I love they way they spin things, and make no mistake, it is "spin!"