Is the "choo choo" worth saving?

Gov. Jerry Brown has announced a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below the 1990 level by 2030.

Aug. 20, 2016 5 AM PT

To the editor: If Gov. Brown wants to really cut carbon dioxide, he should put high speed rail money into L.A.’s light rail.

( “It’s decision time for Brown,” Column, Aug. 18)

It cost a few billion dollars to build the Expo line extension to Santa Monica, and The Times has reported that Metro does not have enough cars to keep up with demand.

Could you imagine how much carbon dioxide could be cut and public transportation improved if $30 billion were put into building out our light rail system to, say, a few hundred miles of track?

Now that’s a train nearly everyone could support.

Fred Smoller, Orange

To the editor: Not only is the bullet train a financial disaster for the state, ironically, it is also a travesty to the environment.

How can the governor justify the noise and air pollution during and after construction of the rail, the loss of watershed that feeds Los Angeles, the tunneling through mountains that could trigger earthquakes, and the destruction of some of the last open space in L.A. County?

It is not too late to halt the bullet train before most of our financial and environmental resources are decimated.

Katharine Paull, Kagel Canyon

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