Infrastructure in the News: February 21, 2013
BAF IN THE NEWS:
Daily Times: Ed Rendell discusses how we became 'a nation of wusses'
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2013/02/20/news/doc5124efb98c73a252257896.txt
RADNOR - Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell spoke to a group of more than 100 people at Radnor Middle School on Tuesday night to discuss why the United States has become, “a nation of wusses,” which is also the title of his 2010 memoir, "A Nation of Wusses: How America’s Leaders Lost the Guts to Make us Great."
Bloomberg: Kasich Siphons Ohio Turnpike Cash at Lowest Yields: Muni Credit
Ohio needs $1 billion to cover transportation projects and doesn’t plan to raise fuel taxes to pay for the work. Governor John Kasich’s solution: have the Ohio Turnpike, whose bonds are trading at record-low yields, supply the funds.
Washington Post: Money, politics and a Sustainable D.C.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-debonis/wp/2013/02/20/money-politics-and-a-sustainable-d-c/
Mayor Vincent C. Gray has now laid out his sprawling and ambitious Sustainable D.C. plan, and there are two things standing between it and reality: Money and politics.
NATIONAL NEWS:
New York Times (Updated): Obama Fleshes Out Plans for Infrastructure Projects
The White House on Wednesday fleshed out the plans President Obama announced in the State of the Union address to repair the nation’s ailing infrastructure. A summary of the plan, which Mr. Obama discussed in interviews, was obtained by The New York Times. The draft sounds three major themes that Mr. Obama has discussed since he was first a candidate for the presidency, but with initiatives intended to engage in work that minimizes the need for Congressional approval and which can capitalize on private investment to help start projects.
New York Times: F.C.C. Moves to Ease Wireless Congestion
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/technology/fcc-moves-to-ease-wireless-congestion.html
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission took a step on Wednesday to relieve growing congestion on Wi-Fi networks in hotels, airports and homes, where Americans increasingly use multiple data-hungry tablets, smartphones and other devices for wireless communications. The commission proposed making a large portion of high-frequency airwaves, or spectrum, available for unlicensed use by devices like the Wi-Fi routers that many Americans use in their homes.
New York Times: Boeing to Propose Redesign of 787 Battery to F.A.A.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/business/boeing-to-propose-battery-fixes-to-faa.html
Boeing has developed possible fixes for the battery problems in its grounded 787 jets and could have them back in the air within two months, industry and federal officials said Wednesday. The officials said Boeing has narrowed down the ways the lithium-ion batteries on the jetliners could fail, and believes that adding insulation between the cells of the batteries and making other changes would provide enough assurance that they would be safe to use.
Marketplace Tech: Parking meter headaches? There's an app for that
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/parking-meter-headaches-theres-app
Paying for parking is a lot like sitting in traffic. Iit's a regular part of city living, which means we end up hauling around rolls of quarters, or standing in line at the kiosk to pay. And there's always the risk of getting a ticket when your meter runs out. But what if there was a way to skip the meter, altogether? Some cities are testing new technology that could make it so.
Freakonomics: The Downside of More Miles Per Gallon: A New Marketplace Podcast
http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/02/20/who-should-pay-for-our-roads-a-new-marketplace-podcast/
The gist: the Federal gas tax is a primary source of infrastructure funding but, politically, it has proven a hard tax to increase. Furthermore, because the tax is a fixed amount (18.4 cents per gallon) rather than a percentage, gas-tax revenues don’t rise even when gas prices do — as has been happening lately.
Fastlane: Guest blogger Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo: In the Midwest, high-speed rail reignites manufacturing
In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama called on us to reignite the engine of economic growth. Here at DOT, we know that investing in America's transportation infrastructure is one way to jump-start that economic engine--through the construction and engineering jobs created right away and through the efficiencies modern infrastructure provides to our nation's businesses. To see an example of this in action, we need look no further than our own Midwest, where U.S. high-speed rail investments are already boosting economic activity, and where 460 different companies are poised to contribute to the rail supply chain and modernize passenger rail in America.
The Hill: Cities group worried about funding in Obama infrastructure plan
The National League of Cities has expressed concern that President Obama’s renewed call for infrastructure spending could put the current tax exemption for municipal bonds in danger.
Clarence Anthony, the group’s executive director, said in a Wednesday statement that the league supports the White House’s broader goal of repairing the nation’s bridges and roads.
The Hill: Rep. Shuster: Obama's $50B infrastructure proposal falls short
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said Wednesday that President Obama’s proposal to spend $50 billion on road and transit projects was a “short term” transportation funding solution. Shuster said Obama’s proposal falls short of addressing the deficit in funding for road and public transit projects that has been created by dwindling federal gas tax revenue.
The Hill: Minnesota Dems push Oberstar for secretary of Transportation
Minnesota Democratic lawmakers are pushing President Obama to appoint former Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) to replace outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Oberstar is a former chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure, leading the panel from 2007 to 2011. Oberstar gave up the committee gavel after he lost his seat in Congress in the 2010 election.
STATE NEWS:
K2Radio (Associated Press Reprint): Mead Signs Higher Gas Tax Bill Into Law
http://k2radio.com/mead-signs-higher-gas-tax-bill-into-law/
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Gov. Matt Mead has signed a bill into law that will hike the state’s fuel tax by a dime a gallon.
Washington Post: Baker and Leggett appear in Annapolis to urge more transportation funding
The leaders of Maryland’s largest city and two largest counties on Wednesday urged the state Senate to act on legislation that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars a year for additional transportation projects.
Transportation Nation: Looming Fiscal Cliff For Seattle Transit
http://transportationnation.org/2013/02/20/looming-fiscal-cliff-for-seattle-transit/
(Seattle, KUOW) Bus service in King County could get some good news this week. Washington state lawmakers are expected to introduce a plan that could prevent a looming fiscal crisis. But first, it has to clear some hurdles. One of the most heavily used bus routes in King County is bus route 7. Officials say as many as 12,000 people ride the number 7 bus every day. Resident Steven Anderson relies on it and hasn’t owned a car in years. He said the number 7 can be really packed during rush hour.
Transportation Nation: Virginia House and Senate Negotiators Strike Transportation Funding Deal
In a final attempt to reach a compromise on measures to raise substantial new revenues for transportation before the scheduled adjournment of the legislative session, Virginia House and Senate negotiators struck a deal that replaces the state’s gas tax with a lower tax on the wholesale price of gasoline, but raises the sales tax.
Transportation Nation: Former MTA Chief Offers Fresh Details on Sandy Prep
http://transportationnation.org/2013/02/20/former-mta-chief-offers-fresh-details-on-sandy-prep/
Former MTA chief Joe Lhota, currently a GOP candidate for mayor in New York City, offered fresh details on how the nation’s largest transit authority prepared for the state’s most destructive storm. Speaking on the Brian Lehrer Show, Lhota said there were “numerous different planning events, tabletop exercises, including management as well as labor.
Detroit Free-Press: Tesla expects to turn a profit, build 20,000 electric cars
http://www.freep.com/article/20130220/BUSINESS0104/130220068/1210/business01
Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors expects to turn a profit in the first quarter for the first time and said it expects to meet its target of producing 20,000 electric vehicles this year. With the dust barely settled on its highly public tussle with the New York Times over the performance of its Model S sedan, Tesla said it made 2,750 vehicles in the fourth quarter and posted a net loss of $89.9 million during that period. The company recorded $306.3 million in revenue for the quarter.
Washington Post: After Sandy, NJ’s biggest utility outlines $4B plan to upgrade its electric and gas system
New Jersey’s largest utility company wants to spend nearly $4 billion over the next decade to stormproof its electric and gas system after Superstorm Sandy’s high winds and devastating surge knocked out power to nearly all its customers last October. PSE&G on Wednesday filed a proposal outlining plans to raise or bunker electrical substations in flood-prone spots, line old cast-iron gas lines with plastic and make other changes designed to prevent the kind of outages that affected most of New Jersey after Sandy struck.
Washington Post: Offshore wind production bill gets preliminary approval in Maryland House
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Gov. Martin O’Malley’s mission to make Maryland a leader in offshore wind development took a positive step Wednesday when the House of Delegates approved a bill on the energy source. The bill would create the infrastructure for an offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean. There are currently no offshore wind farms in the U.S., although several are in development in states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Delaware.
Washington Post: Changes in I-395, East Capitol Street lanes among possible projects in transportation planning document
A stretch of Interstate 395 could be expanded to four lanes in the coming years while several D.C. roadways could lose lanes, regional planning officials said Wednesday. The changes to the area’s long-range transportation plan took a step forward on Wednesday at a meeting of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board. The plan, which is updated annually, outlines every major transportation project underway or planned for the next 25 years.
Washington Post: Editorial: A transportation funding breakthrough in Va.
IT MAY STILL BE a work in progress, but the compromise transportation funding plan taking shape in Richmond has the look of a workable deal — and possibly a historic one — precisely because it challenges orthodoxies held dear by each party. To become law, it will still need an all-out push from Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), with help from Senate Democrats.
Seattle Times: Gas, car-tab taxes drive House Dems’ transportation plan
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020393904_transpopackagexml.html
OLYMPIA — House Democrats rolled out a nearly $10 billion transportation package Wednesday that would boost taxes on gasoline, increase car tabs and even charge a bicycle fee to raise money. The proposal would increase the state gas tax by 10 cents over five years, eventually reaching a total of 47.5 cents per gallon. Washington currently has the nation’s ninth-highest gas tax.
Times Herald: Add public transit to road, bridge aid
Across Michigan, leading business organizations and government leaders are urging the state Legislature to approve increased funding to fix the state’s crumbling transportation system. While Michigan’s roads and bridges continue to deteriorate and are among the nation’s worst, other states are investing in road and bridge repairs and public transit options.
New York Times: Amid Confusion, School Bus Drivers Return to Work After Monthlong Strike
Several drivers could not find their buses. Some of the big yellow vehicles seemed ill prepared for the road, lacking license plates or inspection stickers. At a bus depot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a driver for Reliant Transportation turned a key in his vehicle’s ignition, but it failed to start. “I’m looking for any bus that works,” the driver said.
Politico: Morning Transportation
By Adam Snider and Burgess Everett Featuring Scott Wong and Kathryn A. Wolfe
2/21/13
THE REASON IS THE SEASON: For all the talk about the country’s crumbling infrastructure, a new Reason study out today finds that states have actually improved conditions in a number of key areas over the past 20 years. In measuring seven key metrics — miles of urban and rural interstate highways in poor pavement condition, congestion on urban interstates, deficient bridges, highway fatalities, rural primary roads in poor condition and the number of rural primary roads flagged as too narrow — 11 states improved in all seven categories and 37 states improved in at least five. California was the only state to not show better figures in three of the fields. Reason has much more data and explanations in the full study (http://bit.ly/XMGylC) and the state-by-state summary (http://bit.ly/Y7Bw7t).
SKETCHING IT IN: President Barack Obama began is filling in some of the details surrounding his three-headed transplan: A “fix-it-first” initiative, innovative financing and “cutting red tape.” Some of those items, particularly the expediting of permits, can be done through the executive branch. Others, particularly the billions requested for the “fix-it-first" initiative and the continued push for a national infrastructure bank, will need the blessing of Congress. A White House official said further details on how the plan will be enacted can be expected inside the president’s budget, expected in early March. Burgess has even more for Pros: http://politico.pro/Vw1EIc
Come together: Obama told Boston TV station WCVB (http://bit.ly/YBDElL) that he hopes both parties can come together to enact his transportation plans. “This is something that has traditionally not been partisan. Democrats and Republicans both hate traffic and congestion,” Obama said. In an interview with Bay Area ABC7 released late Wednesday, he again pitched his proposal as a uniter. “The problem is right now people tend to focus first on what’s going to give the short-term political advantage to one party or another instead of, for example, the new program I’ve put forward, ‘Fix-It-First,’” he said. “That’s part of what attracts people to locate here, is if we’ve got world-class infrastructure. That’s not a partisan issue.”
GOP’s ‘fund-it-first’ request: House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster said he hopes Obama will begin offering more long-range solutions. “I welcome the president’s interest in improving our infrastructure. However, the president’s plan appears to be only a short-term proposal for long-term challenges,” Shuster said. And Highways and Transit Chairman Tom Petri sounded a similar note: “The President's plan just seems to be rehashing the same ideas he's put forward in the past with no real proposals on how we're going to pay for it, which is the fundamental issue.”
3 burning questions: A senior House GOP aide emails with some queries about the president’s “new” (quotemarks are the aide’s) infrastructure plan. “1. How is this plan any different than the partisan plan the president has proposed over the last few years that failed to go anywhere, including the Democratic-controlled Senate? 2. What spending is this White House willing to cut to pay for this $50 billion program? 3. When the president talks about 'cutting red tape' and reducing permitting time in half for road and bridge projects, isn’t he just talking about implementing the Republican reforms included in the highway bill signed last July?”
SEQUESTER IS A WAITING GAME: The automatic budget cuts are playing out as a waiting game — Americans are waiting for Congress to act. And if lawmakers don’t step in, travelers will be waiting in longer airport lines, trucks will be idling waiting to bring goods into the country and ports will be backed up. Obama has been talking up the sequester’s impact on everyday Americans — a concerted push to pressure lawmakers to stave off the $85 billion in cuts beginning March 1. “It’s to their benefit to talk about delays and ‘this is going to get cut’ and ‘that is going to cut,’ to get the American people behind them,” Shuster said. Scott and Adam take a look at four areas where the sequester will impact transportation: http://politico.pro/YBEjnm
ANSWERING ALL YOUR SEQUESTIONS: Our talented colleague Jon Allen kicks off his Sequester Watch today, which will go to Pros each morning to fill you in on Congress’s steps to solve (or allow) the billions in automatic cuts to take place. It should be in Pros’ inboxes by about 8 a.m. today.
AIRLINES & THE CARBON TAX: Airlines are pushing back against Senate Democrats’ newest crack at a legislative solution to climate change, saying it would add billions of dollars in additional fuel costs to the price-sensitive industry. Buoyed by Obama’s recent push on curbing climate change, Sens. Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders have introduced the latest in a series of Democratic bills that attempt to create a market price for carbon emissions. Like other fuel-dependent industries, airlines aren’t named specifically in the bill. But Nancy Young, vice president of environmental affairs for Airlines for America, said it would still function as an “exorbitant jet fuel tax” for airlines. Kathryn takes it away for Pros: http://politico.pro/ZhuQSY
SEQUESTER LE-JET-SLATION: Press secretary Jay Carney called for the closing of a “corporate jet” loophole as well as passage of legislation that doesn’t touch the tax exemption. The press secretary said the president supports legislation from Senate Democrats that would avert the sequester, mostly through raising taxes on the rich but also ending some farm subsidies and cutting some defense spending. So while Carney continued to hammer private jet owners, he also was endorsing a bill that did nothing to close that loophole. Carney also didn’t show much sympathy to a local affiliate who said Kansans would face huge job cuts by ending the loopholes, chalking it up to “difficult choices” Washington has to make, drawing the ire of GAMA CEO Pete Bunce.
‘Totally outrageous’: “These statements are totally outrageous and Mr. Carney should apologize,” Bunce said. But Obama said he wants to help the aviation industry but not the jet owner, in an interview with a Wichita TV station: “We want to give more tax breaks to all the aviation companies in Kansas, so that they are hiring here and producing here. What we don’t want to do is give somebody who's buying a corporate jet an extra tax break that ordinary people can't get because they don't need it.” Burgess has more for all to read: http://politi.co/11VTv4V
STATE TRANSPO WATCH — Texas: Google showcased its landmark self-driving cars this week at a TxDOT conference, also exposing how the Lone Star State isn’t prepared for cars that drive themselves. Google didn’t ask for a permit to do the test because it doesn’t need one: Texas has no laws on the books regarding cars that aren’t operated by a person. Our friends at the Texas Tribune have the story, going live at 7 a.m. right here: http://bit.ly/Zid8Pk
Virginia: Virginia House and Senate negotiators have reached a deal to deliver nearly $1 billion in transportation funding, although the plan falls short of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s landmark plan that aimed to kill the state gas tax. The plan would replace the state’s per-gallon sales tax with a 3.5 percent tax on fuel distributors and a 6 percent tax on diesel, increase the state sales tax to 5.3 percent and divert some of that to transportation, impose a $100 fee on hybrids and alternative-fuel vehicles and pour in some general fund revenues. McDonnell has endorsed the plan, saying: “This is a moment to find common ground and get results for the people of Virginia. It is why they have sent us here. Not to argue and posture but to cooperate and solve problems.” The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a good summary: http://bit.ly/YB8Lhg
Washington: Over on the other coast, Washington state House Dems have a $10 billion transpo plan that would boost the gas tax to 47.5 cents over five years and includes a $25 fee on bikes sold for more than $500 — which the Seattle Times notes was “included for largely symbolic reasons.” Read more: http://bit.ly/WaSRbT
MAILBAG — Oberstar for DOT: The Democratic members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation have written Obama pitching former House T&I Chairman Jim Oberstar as a replacement for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We ask you to give him every consideration,” Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and the five House members wrote in the letter. In a January interview with MT, Oberstar said the White House should consider him. “You need a bridge to the House and I think that — I know that — I could do that part,” he said. Read the letter: http://bit.ly/YGHgSd
Fanning the flames of speculation: Phoenix political consultant @PaulJLopez: “Rep Ed Pastor on short list for US Secretary of Transportation. Longtime advocate and tireless champion for public transportation. #phx #az”
DAILY DREAMLINER UPDATE: Officials from Boeing will meet with federal regulators this Friday to propose a fix for the troubled 787 Dreamliner airplanes that have been grounded since last month, according to multiple media outlets. FAA officials must sign off on the proposal as one of the steps before the planes can start flying again. The company wouldn’t confirm or deny the report but said it has been in “close communication with the regulatory and investigative authorities” since the probes began, spokesman Marc Birtel said. He added that “good progress is being made” in solving potential battery problems and returning the Dreamliner fleet to the air. Bloomberg News has more: http://bloom.bg/Yb10yT
BUS-TED: Coming off DOT’s shutdown of the bus company involved in a fatal crash in California and a new push to target troubled carriers, the American Bus Association is urging its members to report unsafe and illegal carriers. http://bit.ly/YGV2o5
CABOOSE — Old-school school bus: If you thought today’s school buses and their lack of seat belts is appalling, you probably shouldn’t check out this picture from 1937 of a school bus/wooden trailer in Williams County, N.D. Shorpy: http://bit.ly/WiNj0X
- T&I’s Aviation panel sets Feb. 27 hearing on the FAA law one year later. http://1.usa.gov/WX1niP
- NYC mayoral candidate and former MTA head Joe Lhota talks about Sandy prep. WNYC: http://wny.cc/VLyJm8
Politico Pro: W.H. adds detail on infrastructure push
By Burgess Everett
2/20/13
President Barack Obama began to flesh out his infrastructure pitch on Wednesday morning, offering a mix of old and new proposals to repair outdated bridges and leverage private sector money for transportation improvements.
The administration supplied a multipage fact sheet that offers a few more specifics on the White House transportation push that Obama mentioned during last week’s State of the Union address. Still, many details will have to wait until the release of the president’s budget proposal, and the fate of many of his preferred policy prescriptions remains at the whims of Congress.
Wednesday’s announcement focused on three items: A “fix-it-first” proposal to repair existing infrastructure before building new projects, a “Rebuild America Partnership” to bring private money off the sidelines through a new bond program, and a continued “modernization effort” to speed up permitting and construction.
Some of those items, particularly the expediting of permits, can be done through the executive branch. Others, particularly the billions requested for the “fix-it-first" initiative and the continued push for a national infrastructure bank, will need the blessing of Congress.
The president has said his infrastructure effort, in tandem with his deficit reduction plans, won’t add a “dime to the deficit.” A White House official said further details on how the plan will be enacted can be expected inside the president’s budget, expected in early March.
Infrastructure boosters have been clamoring for more details on the “fix-it-first” policy, which seeks to deliver $50 billion in immediate infrastructure spending, $40 billion of which would go to fixing existing infrastructure. Obama specifically pointed out the 70,000 deficient bridges in the United States during his State of the Union address, and Wednesday’s fact sheet says these investments “could bring almost 80 percent of structurally deficient bridges up to date.”
No funding source has yet been identified for this infusion, which is of a similar size to the stimulus bill’s $48 billion transportation component. In the past, Obama has said his infrastructure proposals could be paid for by using savings from winding down wars overseas. That idea has gone nowhere in Congress, where conservatives have derided it as budget gimmickry.
Another transportation redux is Obama’s repeated call for a national infrastructure bank, which would identify and support large projects that are significant nationally or regionally. Congress has been cool to this idea too — and two of the outsized champions of the bank, John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), are now out of the Senate.
There have been signals that Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) will spearhead new legislation for such a bank, and freshman Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) is crafting legislation to create an Office of Infrastructure Investment within the Treasury Department.
To address America’s vexing transportation funding woes, Obama hopes to enact “America Fast Forward” bonds to follow the stimulus-era “Build America Bonds,” a program that expired in 2010. The AFF bonds share a name with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s “America Fast Forward” push for the massive expansion of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program, whose implementation is another cog in Obama’s financing plan.
This year TIFIA has $750 million in financing assistance to dole out, which can be leveraged to up to 30 times that, according to the Department of Transportation. There is nearly $42 billion in pending applications for TIFIA loan assistance, a number that DOT says it can support — meaning the program is not yet oversubscribed, though not all the programs are likely to qualify. DOT is still reviewing applications and working with project sponsors on resolving “financial structuring, project scope, procurement, legislative, regulatory and environmental issues,” according to a DOT official.
TIFIA isn’t the only piece of the president’s package that is already in mid-stride. The White House also wants to emphasize “cutting red tape,” an area where the administration has been keenly focused.
During the run-up to last year’s election, the White House shaved the permitting process for several projects such as high-speed rail in California, a campaign titled “We Can’t Wait,” a jab at Congress’s reluctance to fully enact Obama’s American Jobs Act. And the Department of Transportation just published a final rule meant to get rid of duplicative environmental reviews for transit projects.
Building roads and rails cheaper and more quickly already has bipartisan backing: The inclusion of legislation “streamlining” National Environmental Protection Act reviews for transportation projects was a key victory for congressional Republicans in last year’s transportation law.
Politico Pro: Airlines knock Boxer-Sanders carbon bill
By Kathryn A. Wolfe
2/20/13
Airlines are pushing back against Senate Democrats’ newest crack at a legislative solution to climate change, saying it would add billions of dollars in additional fuel costs to the price-sensitive industry.
Buoyed by President Barack Obama’s recent push on curbing climate change, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have introduced the latest in a series of Democratic bills that attempt to create a market price for carbon emissions.
The Boxer-Sanders bill would charge petroleum producers and importers a fee of $20 per ton of carbon the first year the law went into effect; afterwards it would rise by 5.6 percent annually for the next decade.
Like other fuel-dependent industries, airlines aren’t named specifically in the bill. But Nancy Young, vice president of environmental affairs for Airlines for America, said it would still function as an “exorbitant jet fuel tax” for airlines.
Young said aviation fuel providers will essentially tack the fee on to the price of jet fuel, passing it on to airlines. “Obviously because we need to buy the fuel, they can necessarily pass on the cost of that to us. We don’t have a choice,” she said.
Young said at $20 per ton of carbon, that would mean about 19 cents added to the price of each gallon of fuel. “That’s really quite significant,” she said, noting that according to the FAA’s estimates for U.S.-based aviation traffic and estimated fuel usage, the bill’s mandate would mean more than $20 billion in additional costs between 2014 and 2020.
In terms of aviation’s global climate impact, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, aviation contributes about 2 percent of global carbon dioxide. The industry’s total climate footprint, when taking account other things aircraft emit or create — such as soot and water vapor — is about 3 percent globally, the IPCC says.
The airline industry contends that its impact at present is minimal compared with the whole, but most environmentalists’ concerns are firmly focused on the future and are based on projections that global aviation traffic will balloon in the coming decades.
IPCC’s mid-range forecasts show aviation contributing about 3 percent of global carbon dioxide and 5 percent of the potential global warming effect by 2050 as traffic grows.
The airline industry contends that the market already rewards them for keeping fuel costs — and therefore fuel burn — down as much as possible, since fuel purchases eat up a sizeable portion of airlines’ operating expenses.
“Our business model incentivizes us to do the right thing on climate,” Young said, noting that the U.S. airline industry has improved its fuel efficiency by 120 percent since 1978, saving 3.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Young said the industry has set itself a yearly target of a 1.5 percent improvement in fuel efficiency through 2020, and to carbon-neutral growth beyond 2021.
And, if the airlines can’t meet their goal of carbon neutral growth, then “that’s when you can have carbon offsets or a role for a carbon mechanism.”
In any case, the airlines and other industries likely won’t have anything to worry about the Boxer-Sanders bill anytime soon. Even if the measure passes the Senate, which isn’t assured, it will hit a brick wall in the House.
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President Barack Obama, January 24, 2012 Get The Facts
“After all, innovation is what America has always been about…..and nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy.”
