State Backing Off On Green Line Extension Promise…Again Long Awaited Legal Commitment Pushed Back for a Third Time

Contact:
Colin Durrant
CLF Director of Communications
(617)850-1722

Boston, MA (August 8, 2007) For the third time in as many years, the state’s transportation agency has announced plans to push back the deadline for the long-awaited Green Line extension through Somerville to Medford. The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), the legal advocacy group that negotiated the original commitment to complete the project, has objected strongly to this move.

State officials recently told a group of Somerville and Medford legislators that they will push back the project’s completion date to 2016 because they plan to seek federal New Starts funding. CLF maintains the state must fulfill its legal promise to complete the expansion by 2014.

“Not only does the Commonwealth have a legal obligation to stop its backpedaling on the Green Line Extension, it has a moral duty to reduce air pollution, spur economic development and expand transit equity for these long under-served communities,” said CLF president Phil Warburg.

Meanwhile, one of the community groups advocating for the project, Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership, said they were angry at further delay and plan a campaign to “let the Governor know that the delays are completely unacceptable.”

As part of a legal settlement with CLF, the Commonwealth’s transportation agencies agreed to a series of interim deadlines for the Green Line Extension because they had pushed the completion date to 2014 from 2011. The settlement was the result of a CLF lawsuit filed against the Commonwealth because it had fallen substantially behind on a number of the transit projects promised to communities to offset the increased traffic and pollution from the Big Dig.

The Green Line Extension project is part of the baseline 15 to 19 billion dollar transportation funding gap identified by a recent report of the state-appointed Transportation Finance Commission, included because completion of this project is required under state and federal law. The Commission is expected to release recommendations for addressing the Commonwealth’s transportation funding gap in the coming months.

The Conservation Law Foundation works to solve the most significant environmental challenges facing New England . CLF’s advocates use law, economics and science to create innovate strategies to conserve natural resources, protect public health and promote vital communities in our region. Founded, in 1966, CLF is a nonprofit, member-supported organization with offices in Maine , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , Rhode Island and Vermont . Visit us on the web at: www.clf.org.