Efforts to link the Bay Area and the Central Valley by high-speed rail pull onto a technical siding Thursday as the High Speed Rail Authority rescinded its support of an environmental study for that part of the bullet train. The common rescission of the 2008 approval, which recognized the Pacheco Pass as the preferred route, was in response to an August court ruling that the environmental document was partially inadequate. Parts of it will need to be redone.


But how long it will take to fix the study, and move forward with the choice of a position between San Jose and Merced, is a matter of controversy. Rail right officials say it should take a few months - at most. But an attorney representing an environmental group, which attached with Atherton and Menlo Park in filing the suit, says the study shouldn't be rushed.

"It's very clear to us that you need to appreciate that there may be environmental impacts, impacts on habitat and enlargement impacts that could be avoid if you did things differently," said Gary Patton, special counsel for the preparation and protection League, which connected in filing the suit.


Patton likely it could take as long as a year to reconsider the study properly; and any rushed study, he said, would possible lead the sides back to court. The groups concerned in the lawsuit objected to the authority's selection of Pacheco Pass over Altamont Pass as the gateway to the Bay Area, and still consider it a superior choice, Patton said outside the meeting. He said the groups want the authority to completely reconsider their choice, which could steer them toward Altamont.

Quentin Kopp, a retired San Mateo County judge who sits on the power board, said the court ruling was a narrow choice that upheld the adequacy of most of the environmental study but said more work is needed in two areas. He said he expected that work to be done within 70 days.

The ruling, by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny, establish that the environmental impact report did not adequately consider the segment between San Jose and Gilroy in light of the Union Pacific Railroad's stated resistance to sharing its right of way and did not sufficiently study the effects of vibration that would be caused by the fast trains.

Kenny determined in October that the authority did not need to halt planning work on the section while the environmental study was being redone. Consultant working for the authority are studying specific alignments for the rail route.

The U.S will suggest a near-term emission decrease target at the U.N. Type of weather change summit in Copenhagen next month, a senior management official said Monday. President Obama will announce the aim "in coming days," the official said. The statement of a target will take the current legislative stalemate over a climate bill into account, the senior official said, and thus might present a range of possible reduction rather than a single figure.

The lack of agreement in Congress puts Obama in a tricky domestic and diplomatic bind. He cannot promise to the world more than Congress may finally deliver when it takes up type of weather change legislation next year. But if he does not offer some concrete pledge, the United States will bear the brunt of the blame for the lack of an international agreement.

The official also said the leader would decide shortly whether and for how long he might attend the December climate meeting. He frequent Obama's declaration that he would consider presence if his presence could be a useful impetus to a deal. The official spoke at a White House briefing under the condition that he not be recognized.

The management has so far resisted demands that it commit to a specific goal for reducing emissions, saying it could not pre-empt Congress. China, the world's largest emitter of climate-altering gases, has also refused to spell out plans for reducing emissions, although President Hu Jintao promised in September that his country would decrease the amount of emissions per unit of economic output by a "notable margin." Many observers expect China to deliver a more exact pledge before the Copenhagen meeting.

Obama has come under criticism from leaders of dozens of countries that have already set domestic greenhouse gas lessening targets. He is also under fire from numerous environmental advocates who say the United States, the world's second-largest emitter, must take a credible commitment to Copenhagen to ensure that the talks do not fall apart.

The House approved a measure in June that calls for a 17 percent decrease over 2005 levels of house emissions. A Senate committee passed a bill last month that sets a 20 percent target, but that is likely to be weakened in future discussions.

Obama and leaders of a number of other major countries have said the Copenhagen discussion will not yield a full binding treaty to address global warming. Instead, the more than 190 nations represent there are expected to produce an interim agreement that addresses the major issues without requiring approval or international enforcement.