Infrastructure in the News: March 12, 2010

Huffington Post wrote an article on 8 of the world's most popular high-speed trains and San Franscisco Chronicle analyzed who benefits from water infrastructure. Find out more in this Infrastructure in the News.

National News

Bloomberg: House Seeks 18-Month Extension of Build America Bonds
House Democrats will seek to extend interest-subsidized Build America Bonds in negotiations with the Senate over a jobs bill, acting House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin said.

The New Republic: A Linked-Fee for Carbon Reduction?
Shifting gears on the cap-and-trade debate is the latest proposed approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by decoupling the major emitters: utilities, industry, and transportation. The latter would be addressed through a "linked-carbon fee" on transportation fuels. That is, a gasoline carbon tax, but also on aviation fuel and diesel.

Huffington Post: 8 Of The World's Most Popular High-Speed Trains (PHOTOS)
The Obama Administration recently allocated money for high-speed train projects across the nation. Here at HuffPost Green, we think high speed rail is totally awesome, and we hope to see many great rail projects across the country. The definition of high-speed rail varies across the world, with the US Federal Railroad Administration defining it as a train that exceeds speeds of 110 mph, while other countries set the standard much higher. Many places in the world are way ahead of us on rail projects, but they certainly give us something to aspire to. Take a look at some of the world's most popular high-speed trains, and let us know which you like best!

San Francisco Chronicle: Water infrastructure, but for whose benefit?
Part of the debate about water in the Western US, and California in particular, always revolves around whether, where, and how to build new dams. After all, that's how we tried to solve our past water problems -- just build another dam.

State News

Baltimore Sun: Assembly eyes cuts in state transportation aid to Baltimore
A new General Assembly analysis of Baltimore's transportation spending has reopened a debate over state aid to the city - and is leading some lawmakers to consider multimillion-dollar cuts.

WSJ: Los Angeles Maps Rail Plan With a Key Stop: Washington
Three decades is a long time to wait for a train. So Los Angeles is asking the federal government for help in borrowing $9 billion to speed construction of 12 new mass-transit rail lines.