Elana Schor
Recent Posts
Behind the Transport Industry’s Lament About the Senate Climate Bill
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While transport reform advocates hailed last week’s long-awaited Senate climate bill for directing an estimated $6 billion-plus towards local land use planning and green infrastructure, state DOTs and construction interests criticized the legislation — suggesting that the measure’s sponsors could face stiff resistance from the transportation industry’s mainstream despite making concessions to win over all […]
Specter of Gas Tax Lingers as Rendell, Villaraigosa Push Infrastructure Bank
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Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D), two of the nation’s best-known advocates for greater investment in the built environment, today joined several House Democrats in calling for federal action on a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) — even as questions about how the bank’s scope, and Congress’ resistance to raising sustained […]
Senate Climate Bill Would Send $6B-Plus to Cleaner Transportation
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Transportation would receive more than $6 billion of the revenue generated by selling carbon emissions permits to fuel providers under a new Senate climate bill introduced today by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT). Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), left, Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), center, and John Kerry (D-MA), right, began their climate talks in […]
State DOT Official, Rail Exec Talk High-Speed Rail Infighting, Bureaucracy
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The push for dedicated U.S. high-speed rail funding began anew yesterday with the launch of a campaign aimed at securing $4 billion from Congress for next year’s projects — but hours before that event, federal and state transport officials joined private-sector players for a discussion that highlighted the political challenges facing successful development of fast […]
Senate Climate Bill to Feature Transport Carbon Cap — But No Trading
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Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) are set to roll out their long-awaited, somewhat delayed climate change bill tomorrow without onetime co-sponsor Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The legislation no longer includes its originally conceived "linked fee" on motor fuels — which was quickly branded as a gas tax increase, alarming Graham and the White […]
High-Speed Rail Lobbying Campaign Revives the “$4B” Rallying Cry
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The lobbying coalition that helped prod Congress into approving $2.5 billion for high-speed rail last year — twice as much as the Senate had originally set aside — today kicked off a new campaign urging lawmakers to approve $4 billion for bullet trains next year and $2.6 billion for Amtrak. (Photo: TreeHugger) At an event […]
First Lady’s Childhood Obesity Task Force Calls For Transportation Reform
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(Chart: LetsMove.gov) The White House’s inter-agency task force on childhood obesity, developed under the stewardship of First Lady Michelle Obama, today released a 124-page report recommending dozens of policy shifts in health care, community development, and transportation that it estimates can bring down obesity rates among kids by 5 percent over the next 20 years. […]
White House Proposes Lowering Barriers to Rail, Airline Unionizing
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Rail and airline employees would face lowered barriers to unionizing under a new rule announced today by the Obama administration that would put union elections for workers in both modes of transportation on an equal footing with other industries. Rail workers would have an easier path to unionizing under the new rule. (Photo: TreeHugger) The […]
Centers for Disease Control: Transportation Reform is Health Reform
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The connection between transportation and public health has slowly edged into the mainstream since Streetsblog Capitol Hill began covering it last year, first through a billion-dollar grant program added to Congress’ sprawling health care bill and now in a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) brief that connects existing U.S. infrastructure with chronic disease, obesity, and […]
LaHood Answers GOP Critic, Soothes Dem Skeptic of Sustainability Budget
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As Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tangled with a senior GOP senator today over the White House’s $500 million-plus request for its inter-agency office of sustainable communities — a new project aimed at channeling federal energy towards local transit-oriented and smart growth plans — an influential Democrat joined her fellow senator in raising questions about diverting […]
EPA Adopting ‘Fix-it-First’ Infrastructure Policy — For Water
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Environmental groups have long called for a national "fix-it-first" standard to apply to new transportation projects, requiring states to focus on repair of existing infrastructure before constructing new lane miles. The approach has caught on in several state capitals, but not in Washington — except when it comes to water infrastructure. A sign advertising "spring […]
Expectations for High-Speed Rail Coming Down to Earth
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Three months after the Obama administration announced the first winners of what it hopes will be the first of many federal grants to build U.S. high-speed rail networks, advocates and planners are settling in for a long battle to surmount the obstacles and unknowns that stand in the way of long-term bullet train development. If […]