Streetsblog Capitol Hill
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 [PDF] 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
Missing the Point on High-Speed Rail
Ed Glaeser is a fantastic economist. He has done magnificent work analyzing the economics of urban growth and written indispensable papers on the connection between housing regulations and migration.
July 6, 2009
Leading Liberal Economist Endorses DeFazio’s Wall Street Transpo Tax
Few liberal-leaning economists have a higher profile in Washington than Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. His critiques of the Obama administration's Wall Street bailout as a glorified taxpayer subsidy have made Baker a must-read -- as is his latest column for the Guardian.
July 2, 2009
Highway Lobby: Obama DOT’s Transpo Goals ‘Not Appropriate’
The provisions the Obama administration wants to see added to an 18-month extension of current transportation law -- adding up to $310 million for state and local planning -- may look pretty minor to reform-minded voters. But they're a bridge too far for the Washington highway lobby.
July 2, 2009
LaHood, Blumenauer Christen New Portland Streetcars
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood joined Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) in Portland today to christen the city's new fleet of made-in-the-U.S. streetcars.
July 1, 2009
Obama Administration’s Transportation Goals: Read Them Here
When the Obama administration proposed an 18-month delay in drafting the next federal transportation bill, U.S. DOT chief Ray LaHood called for Congress to include "critical reforms" alongside the extension of the existing law. But details on those reforms have been kept under wraps -- until today.
July 1, 2009
House Democrat: We Don’t Have the Votes for Gas Tax Increase
Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), a member of the House transportation committee, took to some less-than-friendly airwaves yesterday to tout an innovative plan for funding the next federal transportation bill: imposing a small tax on Wall Street oil traders.
July 1, 2009