Elana Schor
Recent Posts
New GOP Bill Would Bar Enviro Reviews From Considering Climate
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Republicans on the Senate environment committee, who months ago began criticizing the Obama administration for evaluating federally funded infrastructure projects for their impact on climate change, today introduced legislation that would bar the White House from making climate a factor in environmental reviews. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), one of the new NEPA bill’s sponsors, holds […]
Former U.S. DOT Chief on Worst-Case Scenario: Four Years of Extensions
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To a certain extent, hope springs eternal in federal transportation circles. Even as state DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations operate under the latest in a series of extensions of the 2005 law that governs road, transit, and bike-ped spending, few are willing to envision a future in which new legislation doesn’t pass by next year. […]
Menendez Proposes Tax Credit for Transit-Oriented Development
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New construction projects that are within a half-mile of transit stations and exceeding national energy-efficiency standards would be eligible for a tax credit under legislation introduced yesterday by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the senior member of the Banking Committee’s transit panel. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) (Photo: Paterson Online) Menendez’s "green buildings" tax credit is aimed […]
Senate GOP Continues to Resist Sanctions-Based Distracted Driving Rules
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The Senate environment committee’s senior Republican yesterday joined his counterpart on the commerce panel in criticizing legislation that would withhold federal highway funding from states that fail to crack down on distracted driving, casting doubt on Congress’ ability to approve any punitive approach to reining in texting and cell phone use by drivers. (Photo: SCnow.com) […]
The Gas Tax: A Trip Back in Legislative Time
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As Tax Day prompts a rush of political rallies and media coverage, it’s worth looking back at the history of the federal levy that helps pay for transportation projects: the gas tax. The late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) in 1982, when he battled his own party’s attempts to raise the gas tax. (Photo: TIME) Most […]
Two Cities Exploring ‘Innovative Transport Financing’ For New Rail Lines
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The House transportation committee is holding a hearing today on "innovative financing" for infrastructure projects — a topic near and dear to lawmakers who continue to hunt for a politically feasible, sustainable strategy for funding a new six-year federal transport bill. Riders in Dallas, where a public-private partnership could be the ticket to a new […]
Transport Contractors Urge White House to Revamp Enviro Review Rules
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The trade group representing private-sector transportation contractors is urging the Obama administration to change the way environmental reviews are conducted for infrastructure projects, proposing to favor "categorical exclusions" (CEs) from federal review rules over the lengthier process of measuring the environmental impact of construction work. Environmental reviews added an estimated $1 million to the cost […]
New Analysis Tracks 40 Years of Changes in How Kids Get to School
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(Chart: NCSRS/SRSNP) The percentage of U.S. students between ages five and 14 who walk or bike to school has remained stable over the past 15 years but remains three-quarters below where it stood 40 years ago, according to a new analysis of government data by two groups working on the Safe Routes to School (SRtS) […]
Federal Energy Forecast: Gas Nearing $3/Gallon, Fuel Consumption Up
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Average gas prices are expected to hit $2.92 during this summer’s peak driving season, with fossil-fuel consumption rising overall as the economy begins to recover from a recession that limited U.S. emissions growth, according to a forecast released this week by the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). (Photo: Pop and Politics) The EIA’s latest short-term […]
Would the New Senate Fuel Tax Deal a Death Blow to the Transport Bill?
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Eight Democrats yesterday joined nearly the entire transportation universe, from road-builders to transit advocates, to warn the three Senate authors of a new climate bill against raising gas taxes without using the money for infrastructure. Their message, translated from the often impenetrable language of Washington: Imposing new fuel fees that are not routed to transport […]
8 Senate Dems Join Industry in a Gas-Tax Warning to Climate Bill’s Authors
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As Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) prepare to unveil a new climate change measure that includes a tax on motor fuels, eight of their colleagues are urging the trio not to forget local transportation planning — and warning that any new gas tax should be used to help pay […]
What Happened to the Proposed “Transportation Tax” on Wall Street?
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For several weeks last fall, as members of the House infrastructure committee pushed for passage of a new six-year federal transportation bill as a strategy to rouse the economy from recession, a proposal to pay for the legislation with a small tax on oil futures trades attracted a healthy crop of Democratic cosponsors and some […]