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Senate Starts Climate Push With Nods to Jobs, Energy, and Transportation
The Senate is taking its first public steps toward combating climate
change -- and while the U.S. DOT was absent from this morning's
hearing, the chiefs of the Energy Department and Environmental
Protection Agency reminded lawmakers that transportation must play a
key role in any emissions reduction plan.
July 7, 2009
Adding More Transportation to the Climate Change Mix
Nate Silver's new analysis
of the state of play on climate change in the Senate makes a convincing
argument that a carbon cap-and-trade system can become law this year.
July 6, 2009
New Report on Old Roads Uses Old Assumptions
A new report on the costs of aging roads has gotten a lot of attention over the past week, with both Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and the Washington Post touting its conclusion on the danger of "deficient roadways."
July 6, 2009
Cities See Population Gains — But What About Political Power?
The Census Bureau has just released new data showing a resurgence of the nation's cities, with New York leading the way and Chicago reversing five years of population decline.
July 1, 2009
House Climate Bill on Green Transpo: The Details
Late Update: An earlier version of this post used the
committee-approved version of
the climate bill rather than the final, House-passed version. The
climate bill's identifying number was changed at the last minute, from
the original H.R. 2454 to H.R. 2998, which can be downloaded at the
fourth link from the top on the House Rules Committee's website. Streetsblog Capitol Hill regrets the error.
June 29, 2009
The Wall Street Tax Shelter That Crashed Your Local Transit Agency
The D.C. Metro accident that killed nine riders this week has renewed calls for rail safety upgrades and reminders that car travel remains far riskier
than transit. But the crash is also shedding light on a problem that
goes beyond Washington: tax shelter deals between banks and struggling
transit agencies -- deals that were given a retroactive pass by
Congress even though the IRS considers them illegal.
June 26, 2009
The House is Debating Climate and Energy Legislation Right Now (Updated)
Kate Sheppard from Grist is Tweeting the heck out of the climate bill debate on the floor of the House of Representatives today. Barbara Boxer, who is working on the Senate version of this bill, yesterday reminded sustainable transport advocates that this is probably going to be their only chance in the next 18 months to get something done in Congress.
June 26, 2009
Ohio Republican Senator: Voinovich: Business Buy-in Can Get Transportation Bill Done
George Voinovich (R-OH) may be the only senator who wants to forget about an 18-month extension of existing transportation law and move ahead quickly on broad reform. But that doesn't mean he's giving up.
June 25, 2009
Boxer: Forget Transportation Bill, Work with Me on Something Else
Green transportation advocates are pressing Congress
to refuse any new spending that's not tied to reform of the existing
system -- a call that influential senators in both parties ruled out
today.
June 25, 2009
Watson One of Four Lawmakers Who Show Up To Pitch Local Projects
Members of the House had an open invitation today from the panel in charge
of annual funding for transportation and housing: Any lawmaker could
come and personally make the case for why their local bridge, road, or
transit project should get a share of the federal money.
May 20, 2009