DALLAS -- A federal lawsuit seeking to halt Maryland's Purple Line light rail project says track construction would endanger the habitat of tiny aquatic creatures that may or may not live in creeks along the $2.4 billion system.
The lawsuit, filed by the Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail and two residents of Chevy Chase, Md., said the Federal Transit Administration erred in March when it accepted environmental reviews that cleared the way for construction of the 16-mile light rail line that will serve the northern suburbs of Washington, D.C.
The Maryland Transit Administration is in the process of selecting a private partner to invest $500 million to $900 million in the Purple Line in exchange for the concession to operate and maintain the system for 35 years. The successful concessionaire will receive availability payments of up to $200 million a year.
Construction of the Purple Line between Bethesda and Silver Spring will degrade or destroy portions of the Rock Creek watershed that is home to two species of freshwater invertebrates found nowhere else in the U.S., said John Fitzgerald, a plaintiff in the suit.
FTA and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service did not consider the fates of the Hay's Spring amphipod and the Kenk's amphipod when the project received environmental clearance, he said.
"If these agencies obey the law, we may save two species from extinction and they in turn may save for us clean water and forest canopy, and one of our last quiet, shaded trails across this part of Montgomery County," Fitzgerald said.
The lawsuit seeks to protect the biodiversity of the Rock Creek area, said Ajay Bhatt, president of Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail.
"We strongly support public transit, but also want to preserve one of the national capital area's most popular and forested linear parks as well as the endangered species that are natural indicators of the health of our ecosystem in the D.C. metro area," Bhatt said.
The plaintiff group said in June they intended to file suit to protect the amphipods under provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act.
In a letter earlier this month to the FTA, a regional administrator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said a recent survey by an American University biology professor found no Hay's Creek amphipods along the route. USF&W's Genevieve LaRouche said the nearest habitat of the Kenk's amphipod is on a hillside a quarter-mile from the rail route and well above any groundwater that would be polluted by track work.
The lawsuit over the two shrimp-like species is a red herring that "typifies the kind of specious claims that have characterized the history of opposition to the Purple Line," said Ralph Bennett, president of Purple Line NOW, which supports the project
"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," Bennett said. "Purple Line NOW is confident that this lawsuit will be found to have no merit."
The Purple Line will run east-west inside the Capital Beltway, with 21 stations between Bethesda in Montgomery County and New Carrollton in Prince George's County. It will connect with the Metrorail system operated by Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the MARC rail system operated by MTA.
The new line is scheduled to open in 2020 and is expected to serve more than 74,000 riders a day by 2040.
