Purple Line Supporters Confident Lawsuit Will Be Thrown Out

Purple Line supporters gather at a press conference in August 2013 to announce the pursuit of a public-private partnership to build, design and operate the system (file photo)After Chevy Chase environmentalists filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to stop the Purple Line, some of the light rail system’s staunchest supporters are touting how it will help the environment.

In a statement prepared after the news of the lawsuit, Purple Line Now President Ralph Bennett said his group “is confident that this lawsuit will be found to have no merit.”

The Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail and Chevy Chase residents John Fitzgerald and Christine Real de Azua say the federal government hasn’t adequately accounted for two species of amphipods – the small, shrimp-like creatures they say live in seeps along Rock Creek and Coquelin Run that would be degraded or destroyed by the Purple Line.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says there’s no evidence the endangered amphipod species in question lives in the area near the proposed Purple Line route and that there’s no apparent risk to the one known habitat of an amphipod species that’s a candidate for the endangered list.

“Today’s lawsuit typifies the kind of specious claims that have characterized the history of opposition to the Purple Line,” Bennett said. “Despite the assertions of those who filed the lawsuit, the fact remains that there is no evidence that the species exists within the planned route of the Purple Line. The species is only known to exist in a few springs in the District of Columbia, a fact which was substantiated when this past spring, a search in the Montgomery County section of Rock Creek for the amphipod turned up nothing. Furthermore, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency responsible for protecting endangered species and their habitats, has held that the construction of the Purple Line would have no effect on the amphipod, even if it were to exist in Montgomery County.”

That search in the spring was done by American University biologist and amphipod expert Dr. David Culver, who the Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail hired with $10,000 in funding from the Town of Chevy Chase to do the surveys.

Purple Line NOW (and like-minded groups such as the Action Committee for Transit) are longtime opponents of the Town of Chevy Chase, which is officially opposed to the Purple Line and hasn’t ruled out litigation of its own.

The $2.37 billion light rail system would run from Bethesda to New Carrollton. The Maryland Transit Administration hopes to select a private concessionaire early next year to design, build and operate the system and start construction late next year. The goal is to complete the project by 2020.

Bennett goes on to say the environmental benefits of the Purple Line “far outweigh any potential harm.”

“The Purple Line is supported by countless environmental groups including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Clean Water Action and the League of Conservation Voters,” Bennett said. “The Sierra Club even went so far as to name the Purple Line as one of the 25 best transportation projects in the United States in 2012. The Purple Line will provide tangible environmental benefits in the form of reduced greenhouse gas emissions and automobile trips, and feature sustainable design elements such as green tracks, green buffers and planter boxes to reduce stormwater runoff and heat gain.”

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