Rural Texans Hope to Derail High-Speed Train : Environment: Ranchers and farmers fear adverse impact on livestock and lifestyle. If built, the $6-billion system would link four major cities.

Ranchers and farmers once were blood enemies here, but they are united these days against a common foe--a proposed bullet train that would whisk passengers across vast stretches of rural Texas at 200 m.p.h.

The rail system would link Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, fencing in 600 miles of land to make way for trains that would run day and night.

“It’s going to destroy people’s whole lives,” said Kenneth Johnson, who raises ostriches on his central Texas ranch.

“Farmers have a tough enough time as it is,” complained Heather Morris, a second-generation farmer from Dawson, about 60 miles south of Dallas.

Johnson and Morris were among several opponents who spoke out against the proposal during a recent hearing in Corsicana. The hearing is one of 39 being held to help develop a report on the train’s environmental impact.

A century ago, Johnson and Morris could have been on opposite sides. Ranchers once fought to keep the range open for their grazing cattle while farmers fenced in their land to protect struggling crops.

These days, there is no such split. Many, such as Gary Murphy, consider themselves both farmers and ranchers. The division is between agricultural interests and the railroad.

“I’ve got cattle, and am concerned about how the noise is going to affect milk production,” said Murphy, who is from Dawson. “We feel the market value of our land is affected. The proposal is already hurting it, and it’s certainly going to if it goes through.”

Clint Miller, an executive with the company running the hearings, says rural Texans are worried that the bullet train could change their way of life. Some of the meetings have drawn more than 300 people.

Miller is a bit bemused by his reception. “Other than being threatened to be chased out of town with a stick, things are going very well,” he said.

A group of American and French investors, managed by Idaho-based Morrison Knudsen Corp., has been awarded the 50-year franchise to build and operate the nearly $6-billion train system. The initial routes are scheduled to be in operation by the end of the century.

But many rural residents are concerned about losing or being blocked from their land. They also worry about how the noise of the train and its electric lines will affect their livestock.

Bill Curtis, a rancher from Cryer Creek, said the train “will only be benefiting people in metropolitan areas, with destruction to prime farmland.”

Bob Neely, executive director of the Texas High-Speed Rail Authority, said the state is sensitive to the concerns.

But “it’s like any other major public works project,” he said. “The most recent is comparing it to the interstate highway system, where there was tremendous opposition.”

Neely said bullet train opponents are giving farmers and ranchers false information, such as saying the power to condemn land will be in the hands of private builders instead of governmental entities.

The last hearings will be held in Waco and Georgetown on June 25, and written public comment will be accepted until July 13.

It will take about two years to complete the environmental assessment.

The next major financial deadline for the train builders is Dec. 31, when they have to prove to the Texas High-Speed Rail Authority that they have raised $170 million, $30 million of it in cash.