Big Labor has secured a large PLA in the Los Angeles region. The project involves a state-of-the-art 200-well production facility at the Dominquez Hills oil field. Since its discovery in 1923, the field has yielded 274 million barrels of oil.

"We are fortunate to have the skilled Building Trades participating in the construction of this facility," said Jim Eastlack, General Manager with OXY.  "They will provide the experienced crafts and the training for the local hires we need."

Environmental and community approvals are still needed before this project can move forward.

Setbacks for California's High-Speed Rail Boondoggle 

Who is still for it? In addition to the governor and the legislature, it has support from engineering and construction firms that could benefit from contracts, some construction unions, romantic rail buffs, and some environmentalists. The Sierra Club, however, has said it is concerned that diverting cap-and-trade revenue to an infrastructure won't result in reduced emissions of that old debbil carbon any time soon. The high-speed rail authority had been banking on Amtrak to buy rolling stock jointly, thus saving money for both. 

Peter Hannaford - American Spectator -- 06/26/14

High-Speed Political Reckoning?

But all of this is beside the point. The Democrats' chief aim is to lift public support for the beleaguered train and head off a voter revolt against their members this November. They hope promising jobs and benefits closer to their constituents' homes will stifle criticisms of the train. But do they seriously think that undertaking another expensive and impracticable make-work project will improve public confidence in liberal governance? Mr. de Leon told the Los Angeles Times recently that Democratic legislators are "going to have to save the governor from himself on high-speed rail." The more urgent priority ought to be saving themselves from themselves. 

Allysia Finley - Wall Street Journal ($) -- 07/03/14

California High-Speed Rail Fairytale

The ministers, aka California's dominant party's legislators, play along with the charade by repeating the mantra "we need high-speed rail to solve our problems ... it is the future." Each time the authority and the governor have hearings on the topic, they ignore the warning signs and continue the procession right toward the cliff. However, a small group of landowners, the County of Kings and the Kings County Farm Bureau have made the statement "there is no high-speed rail project." 

Aaron Fukuda & Shelli Andranigian - Fresno Bee -- 06/25/14