The “Buy America” nightmare is now history for Metro.
In September 2010, the FTA announced that the process Metro had used to award a rail car contract to CAF USA, the U.S. subsidiary of a Spanish company, violated federal law and “Buy America” requirements that were designed to protect U.S. jobs.
To requalify for federal funds on the two lines, the FTA said Metro had to cancel its contract with CAF USA and solicit new proposals for rail cars. Metro complied.
Last week the FTA notified four congressional committees – House Transportation and Infrastructure; Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and House and Senate Appropriations – of its plan to execute two grant agreements that could bring Metro a total of $900 million over five years.
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FTA spokesman Paul Griffo confirmed that the agency sent notice to Congress on Sept. 7. The next day, President Barack Obama mentioned Houston public transit construction in his nationally televised jobs speech.
Hallelujah. Even before this delay, the process of getting the full funding grant agreement had been excruciatingly slow, but at least there has been some progress lately, and actual track has been laid for the Southeast line. Going back through the archives, the first wind of trouble came in May of 2010, about a week before then-CEO Frank Wilson took a powder. The “New Metro” and new CEO George Greanias received a second chance from the FTA in September of 2010; the prediction that this would tack on a year to the production schedule has proven eerily accurate. Metro settled with CAF in December, and had funds appropriated to them in the President’s budget in January. It’s true that the rest of the funding will depend on the whims of Congress, and that there’s still the opportunity for the transportation bill in Congress to get screwed up by the radicals in the Republican Party, but that’s no reason to be a party pooper:
Bill King, a Houston attorney and light-rail critic, said the rail funding was not guaranteed even if the FTA signs the agreement.
“The real issue is always whether Congress will fund it or not,” King said.
Yes, as noted, Congressional Republicans could always screw things up. But why fixate on that? An asteroid could collide with the earth and wipe us all out like the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Era. Global warming could accelerate and put the entire city under eight feet of water by the end of the decade. Terrorists could start blowing up light rail lines. Rick Perry could be elected President and prove that the Mayans were right all along. There’s no end to the doomsday scenarios, so what’s the point in worrying about them? There’s plenty of things you can control to worry about.