The Los Angeles Times reports California's proposed high speed rail is about to face new challenges coming from a private railroad that controls a key right of way, a legislative committee delving into contracting issues and a powerful federal agency asserting authority over the project, all of which could delay the proposed groundbreaking, itself having already been delayed more than six months.

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Crazifornia author Laer Pearce questions the decision to award the contract for the first leg of the high speed rail project to Perini-Zachary-Parsons, not only due to Tutor Perini's history of questionable business practices, but it turns out Senator Feinstein's husband Richard Blum is a principle owner in the company.

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Reason.com's Scott Shackford reports that California is now under pressure by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to start setting aside a portion of its budget for the high speed rail project if it wants the federal government to assist in funding, despite already suffering a $9.2 billion deficit.

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Despite hitting continuous roadblocks, Reason.com reports that Governor Brown is still adamant that the California High Speed Rail project go forward, going so far as to suggest using cap-and-trade revenues to fund it.

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Wizbang Blog cites a new report from an independent panel assigned to monitor progress of California’s high-speed rail system that shows just how bad the project has become. Moving forward with the project, they said, “represents an immense financial risk to the state of California.”

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