Texas Hegislature January 16, 2015 Michael Johnsen, Lead Environmental Protection Specialist Federal Railroad Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 Mr. Jobnsen: We are writing in rogards to the Houston to Dallas High-Speed Rail public scoping meetings, and to request a public scoping meeting be held in Montgomery County. It is our understanding the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in coordination with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is responsible for preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Central Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor. As part of the EIS, the impacts of various alternative High Speed Rail route alignments are to be analyzed. While public scoping meetings were held from October through December, certain counties along the proposed routes — including Montgomery County - were excluded from the public commenting, period. Equally disappointing is the inadequate notification to local and state officials regarding the EIS ‘meetings. Jn our opinion, the environmental process has been flawed. To be remedied, itis our view that 4 well-publicized scoping meeting must soon be held in Montgomery County. Thank you for your timely attention to this matter. We look forward to hearing back from you to schedule a public scoping meeting in Montgomery County. Should you have any questions regarding the irection provided in this correspondence, please do not hesitate to contact our offices. nash Be Senalor Robert Nichols Representative Cecil Texas Senate District 3 Texas House District Senator Brandon Creighton ‘Representative Will Metcalf Texas Senate District 4 Texas House District 16 Hn gl — _ Representative Mark Keough Texas House District 15 Ce: Texas Department of Transportation USS. Environmental Protection Agency ‘Texas Central Railway