It's expensive, but the LA Times article is leaving out a critical piece of information. The costs they're talking about are in year of construction costs, not 2008 or even 2018 dollars.
For instance, if the expected completion date is 2028 and the cost is $70 billion in 2028 dollars, any delay will increase the absolute cost because of inflation, even if the cost in 2028 dollars stays the same.
While $80+ billion in costs by 2033 is a lot of money, it's not actually twice the initial estimate of $40 billion in 2008 dollars (something like $55-70 billion in 2023-2033 dollars, assuming ~3% inflation/year).
Comments
It's expensive, but the LA Times article is leaving out a critical piece of information. The costs they're talking about are in year of construction costs, not 2008 or even 2018 dollars.
For instance, if the expected completion date is 2028 and the cost is $70 billion in 2028 dollars, any delay will increase the absolute cost because of inflation, even if the cost in 2028 dollars stays the same.
While $80+ billion in costs by 2033 is a lot of money, it's not actually twice the initial estimate of $40 billion in 2008 dollars (something like $55-70 billion in 2023-2033 dollars, assuming ~3% inflation/year).