Until the voters and/or legislature tell the people running these shows that the agency's mission has changed, they *are* being responsible. Their job remains to do the various bits of work (including public involvement) they were hired to do in support of the HSR project as currently defined. If they were to NOT do that by their own decision, they would be guilty (in some cases) of violating a contract, and (in others) of refusing to do their assigned job as public employees. Accountability for that would be fairly swift and painful for those involved.

Preliminary engineering and environmental studies can be useful even if the project for which they are done never proceeds past that point. They develop information about the various impacts at a point in time, and compile it in one place. That provides a starting point for revisions in the future. I've seen many highway-related documents like that.

In the meantime, if you-all want changes, get enough support to talk credibly and make a convincing case to the legislature and voters. Gabbing in this echo chamber may be good for jollies, but won't do anything to address the perceived problem.