Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — Financial uncertainty isn’t the only possible threat to the Purple Line. The Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail plan to sue the state of Maryland over Governor Larry Hogan’s approval of the Purple Line.
“The environmental impact statement and the record of decision do not accurately reflect nor do they take into consideration all of the environmental laws that are required to be followed when making severe impacts like the Purple Line would,” said the group’s president Ajay Bhatt.
The Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail along with the Center for Sustainable Economy and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the federal government in August of 2014 after two studies by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found the train wouldn’t harm shrimplike creatures in the area. The Hay’s Spring amphipod is endangered, while the Kenk’s amphipod is a candidate for addition to the endangered species list.
Bhatt said they are also waiting the results of an E DNA study. The new technology allows scientists to sequence the DNA of an endangered species and then take water samples in the areas where the endangered species might be and identify that DNA.
“Between the lawsuits that calls out specific failings of the environmental impact statement within the record of decision as well as moving forward on the recovery of the of the endangered species, the endangered amphipod, I think that it’s a long way before this project will break any ground,” Bhatt said.
At a press conference Thursday, Hogan and Maryland’s Secretary of Transportation Pete Rahn said they are accepting requests for proposals from companies interested in building the 16-mile light-rail line. The construction timeline is estimated to be out five years.
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