EPA
Could Transport Bill Inaction Hurt the White House’s Sustainability Push?
The White House's lack of interest in passing a new long-term federal transportation bill before next spring at the earliest is common knowledge in Washington, but the Obama administration has paid little political price so far for its approach to the issue. That began to change today, thanks to two lawmakers on the House panel that controls the U.S. DOT's purse strings.
March 10, 2010
Dodd Vows to Pass Livability Bill Amid Skepticism From Rural Senators
Even as the Obama administration ramps up its work on a sustainability initiative that treats transportation, housing, and energy efficiency as interconnected aspects of development policy, the effort remains without an official congressional authorization -- a situation that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) vowed to fix yesterday.
March 9, 2010
Report: White House Budget Office Helped Weaken EPA Pollution Rule
Pensacola, Florida. Springfield, Missouri. Fort Wayne, Indiana. All three of those metropolitan areas have populations between 350,000 and 500,000, and all three would have been required to install nitrogen dioxide monitoring stations near major roadways under a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule cracking down on the pollutant.
February 8, 2010
EPA and HUD Make Big Investments in Sustainable Development
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are making significant progress on their joint effort, with the U.S. DOT, to connect cleaner transportation options with affordable housing and denser urban development.
February 8, 2010
EPA Strengthens Nitrogen Dioxide Rules for First Time in 35 Years
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a new "one-hour standard" aimed at limiting Americans' short-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a pollutant created by cars, power plants, and other industrial sources.
January 25, 2010
How Will Obama’s Sustainability Team Spend Its $150M? A Preview
Before the U.S. DOT gave some early clues as to how the agency would craft its new transit funding rules, deputy housing and urban development (HUD) secretary Ron Sims answered another question that's been on the minds of transit and local-planning wonks: How will the Obama administration's three-agency partnership for sustainable communities spend its $150 million in funding for this year?
January 21, 2010
Obama Quietly Gets Federal Agencies Involved in Transport Planning
When President Obama signed an executive order in October requiring federal agencies to craft strategies for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, he described the mandate as Washington "lead[ing] by example" on the pollution-reduction front.
January 19, 2010
EPA Air Chief: We Need to Do More to Reduce VMT
Obama administration officials "need to align together" to work on reducing the nation's total vehicle miles traveled -- work that should go beyond a pending congressional climate bill -- the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) air-quality chief said today.
January 14, 2010
The 2009 Capitol Hill Streetsies: And the Nominees Are …
The year-end Streetsie Awards are a time-honored tradition at Streetsblog -- check out New York's first round of honorees, hot off the presses today -- and Capitol Hill certainly has provided plenty of material. Without further ado, here are the nominees for Washington's brightest and bleakest moments of 2009. Winners will be announced on New Year's Eve, so don't forget to root for your favorites (by emailing elana [at] streetsblog [dot] org).
December 29, 2009
EPA Makes it Official: Emissions Threaten Public Health
Acting under a Supreme Court mandate, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled today that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and contribute to the harmful environmental effects of climate change, paving the way for pollution regulations under the Clean Air Act.
December 7, 2009