President Bush just announced his current budget proposal, and it is tough. There are many reductions in programs that he claims under-perform or don't work at all. This makes all the sense in the world as Washington has too much pork, too much payback, and definitely too much fat.

But there is one federally funded program that I feel should not be cut, and it's Amtrak. Under his current proposal, he seeks to eliminate all federal funding for the project.

You might be thinking to yourself, "if it's not self-supporting without government aid, then why should it not be dropped?" But this thinking only works if you carry it to all forms of mass transit.

Take, for example our roads, it's mass transit for the masses. In fact, they are the most pollution intensive and inefficient form of mass transit.

Because Americans love their cars and the freedom they provide, roads are very heavily subsidized by the government. While some depend on tolls, most are "free."

They're not really "free" as tax dollars pay for them, local, state, and federal tax dollars. The fact is that with the exception of a few toll roads, roads are 100 percent subsidized.

Trains were romantic 50 years ago, before the airliners made them less glamorous, and less worthy of federal money.

Never mind that they can, if properly operated, help reduce air pollution by taking cars off the road, especially the SUV. SUV's are major polluters, operating on tax subsidized road ways. You could ease road congestion with a better rail system, not to mention, the pollution caused by all of those vehicles when they're jammed on the highways.

Of course, we are not getting rid of roads or cars but we, as a nation need to support common sense alternatives. The notion that rail should be scrapped because it is not self-sustaining is intellectually empty.

Europe has it right. There is a vast system of international and domestic rail that people rely on every day.

The northeast has always been Amtrak's strongest service area, but on the east coast, California has recently been doing very well.

Let me be clear on this, Amtrak isn't great but it's a start that needs to be developed. It needs rupturing and money so that it becomes increasingly usable. It must be supported, not dismantled.

Don't let this happen, tell your Congressman that you think it's a bad idea. It's just more disregard to our environment, and another vote for big oil and big business.

Published: March 3, 2005

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Stuart Lieberman, Esq. writes about environmental issues. He was a New Jersey Deputy Attorney General assigned to the State Department of Environmental Protection from 1986 to 1990. Currently he is a shareholder in the environmental law firm of Lieberman & Blecher, P.C., located in Princeton, New Jersey. Stuart can be reached at slieberman@liebermanblecher.com.