Florida Gov. Rick Scott reaffirms he will not accept high speed rail. Anti High Speed rail rally in Tampa 2/21, video

2/21/11, "Facts about President Obama's High-Speed Rail Project," by Rick Scott on Monday, February 21, 2011 at 1:29pm

• Following is copy of email Rick Scott sent out yesterday afternoon:

"As you may know last Wednesday, I informed U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood of the state’s decision to reject President Obama’s costly Tampa to Orlando high-speed rail project. Here are the facts about the project, and I ask you take action today to support this decision by sharing the facts on Facebook.

My decision to reject the project comes down to three main economic realities:

• 1. Capital cost overruns from the project could put Florida taxpayers on the hook for an additional $3 billion.

2. Ridership and revenue projections are historically overly-optimistic and would likely result in ongoing subsidies that state taxpayers would have to incur, which could cost from $300 million – $575 million over 10 years.

3. If the project becomes too costly for taxpayers and is shut down, the state would have to return the $2.4 billion in federal funds to D.C.

Let's get to work,

Governor Rick Scott"
------------------------------

Tampa groups held an Anti High Speed Rail protest on Feb. 21 which was well attended. Here is some video.

• via Sharon Calvert in Florida