An EIR was required for construction purposes. A legal dispute
with Novato ultimately resolved that piece with the NCRA
pursuing the EIR it has drafted. However, it was the CTC
that imposed the requirement in the first place that the NCRA had to "complete its
environmental documents" in order to continue to get
state funding for the construction.

However, there was a gap in the process. No one thought at
the time that the EIR certification would be delayed this long.
There was no thinking at the time as to "what would happen if
the EIR wasn't completed and the EO was lifted?"

Potentially, the NCRA is in a legal "no mans land." The TCRP funds
for the NCRA have been used up and it is not clear what
authority the state now has to require an EIR prior to freight
start -up. (In the past if the NCRA wasn't pursuing an EIR, the
state could have withheld funding.) As I understand it, there
are no longer additional funds to be withheld.

So, what happens if the NCRA just doesn't issue the EIR
but does get the EO lifted?

It is an odd situation -- possibly only resolved
through litigation -- that freight trains
could roll without an EIR being certified. The environmental
organizations may sue in state court. NWP Co. could file in
federal court at which time we would find out whether federal
law is applicable. Doug Bosco recently stated at an NCRA
Board meeting that an EIR was not required to start-up freight.

Like in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" ...we'll see.