BAF NEWS
Environmental Leader: Obama Proposes $10-Per-Barrel Oil Tax
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/02/08/obama-proposes-10-per-barrel-oil-tax/
Former US transportation secretary Ray LaHood, who serves as co-chair of infrastructure investment group Building America’s Future, says Congress should include Obama’s plan in its final budget. “If passed, the president’s plan will make up for the shortfall in the recently passed transportation bill and put thousands of people to work fixing the approximately 61,000 deficient bridges across the country, our transit systems and enable cities to fix potholes and states to improve America’s interstates,” LaHood said in a statement.
NATIONAL NEWS
Washington Post: Take Mr. Obama’s oil fee proposal seriously
PRESIDENT OBAMA wants to raise gasoline prices. It is about time.
CNET: The feds are 'blown away' by Smart City Challenge submissions
http://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/the-feds-are-blown-away-by-smart-city-challenge-submissions/
Back in December, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the Smart City Challenge, through which midsize cities can compete for up to $50 million in funding to develop the connected city of the future. As of Friday, the DOT has finished collecting submissions, and it's been taken aback by how many groups got involved.
The Hill: Poll: Majority not ready for driverless cars
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/268589-poll-majority-not-ready-for-driverless-cars
A total of 51 percent of voters said they would not ride in a driverless car, while 63 percent said they were unlikely to buy a self-driving car in the next decade, according to a new poll.
The Hill: Conservative groups rally behind independent air traffic control plan
Conservative and libertarian groups in Washington are rallying behind a House Republican plan to separate the nation’s air traffic control system from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Reuters: U.S. traffic deaths increase 9 percent in 2015
http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-trafficdeaths-idUSL2N15K2PP
Traffic deaths in the United States rose about 9 percent in the first nine months of 2015 compared to same period a year earlier, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Friday, as low gasoline prices increased road travel.
STATE NEWS
Washington Post: Federal funding for D.C., Va., Md. at risk due to lack of progress on Metro oversight
The Federal Transit Administration has given Virginia, Maryland and the District a year to create a safety oversight body for Metro or risk losing millions in federal transportation funding.
Richmond Times-Dispatch: After heated debate, Council approves $49 million bus rapid transit project
http://www.richmond.com/news/article_7833e688-670d-5c5c-b6d1-a63818d0ff9d.html
Richmond City Council voted 7-1-1 on Monday night to approve a $49 million bus rapid transit project that supporters hope is the beginning of a regional transit system and opponents worry is a flawed first step that doesn’t do enough to expand access to public transportation.
The Detroit News: Detroit area transit authority gears up for tax pitch
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/02/08/rta-pitch/80040056/
Regional transit advocates are hoping Metro Detroiters are willing to open their wallets this year for a new tax to fund transportation improvements — and they’re planning to spend big to sell it.
NJ.com: N.J. lawmakers outline legislation to avert a Flint water crisis here
http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2016/02/nj_lawmakers_outline_legislation_to_guard_against.html
U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez, along with U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, outlined federal legislation Monday designed to prevent a Flint-like water crisis from coming to New Jersey.
KDAL: 80 Billion Needed For Great Lakes Wastewater Infrastructure
More than $80 billion is needed over the next 20 years to curb sewage overflows and protect community drinking water in the eight Great Lakes states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, according to a new report by the U.S. EPA. The agency’s recently released “2012 Clean Watershed Needs Survey” assesses the state of wastewater infrastructure in the United States, including general water treatment plant infrastructure, issues with leaks or overflows, and stormwater management. In 2012, wastewater infrastructure needs nationally totaled $271 billion.
POLITICO Morning Transportation
By Heather Caygle and Lauren Gardner | 02/09/2016 06:00 AM EDT
SWINGING FOR THE FENCES: Rise and shine, MT readers - it's President Barack Obama's last budget day. We'll be bringing you the nitty-gritty starting later this morning, but we've already been hard at work giving you the broad strokes of what the administration's bold ideas on infrastructure mean in the twilight of Obama's presidency. Here's a refresher:
- $4 billion for driverless cars: The administration is going all-in on integrating self-driving cars into traffic infrastructure. But as Heather noted last month, such a push will need Congress to follow through on both the money and the power, as NHTSA will likely need additional authority to ensure safety in a new world order of automobiles.
- $10-per-barrel fee on oil: The tax on oil companies would help make $300 billion in new infrastructure investments a reality - if Congress were to play along. The latest in big infrastructure ideas from the administration, it comes two months after lawmakers enacted a five-year highway and transit bill.
ELECTION YEAR, SMECTION YEAR: Who says you can't move big pieces of legislation during an election year? Well, practically everybody, actually. Capitol Hill denizens old and new know that legislative work practically grinds to a halt when the White House is up for grabs. Not to be deterred, House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster said he fully intends to push his massive FAA overhaul (H.R. 4441) through Congress this year, presidential politics or not. "I know the conventional wisdom of Washington says you can't do much of anything in an election year. But I'm not worried about the conventional wisdom," Shuster said.
Can I get a witness? T&I released its witness list for Wednesday's FAA hearing. Up to bat will be leaders from the alphabet soup of aviation groups - A4A and NATCA, both supporters of the plan, and the NBAA, which on Monday issued a call to action in opposition of Shuster's proposal.
- Mailbag: A slew of leaders from think tanks that back limited government have pledged their support for Shuster's bill.
MT EXCLUSIVE - GA BANDS TOGETHER AGAINST BILL: The general aviation industry has joined forces to oppose a bill snaking its way through the House this week, but it's probably not the one you're thinking of, MT readers. In a letter exclusively obtained by MT, several GA groups write to House leaders in opposition to a veterans bill (H.R. 3016) due for a vote this evening.
"We believe H.R. 3016 discriminates against veterans seeking a flight-training degree from public institutions of higher learning because it caps funding only for these degree programs. Other courses of study are not capped," the groups wrote. While the bill claims to rein in excess spending, "the direction this bill has taken appears misguided and will do more harm than good," they added.
TURNT UP FOR TUESDAY: Good morning, folks, and thanks for tuning into POLITICO's Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. We're Heather and Lauren, your MT hosts for a couple more days, trying to brave the February chill in our waterproof duck boots while Martine is basking in fun and sun far, far away.
Don't be a stranger. Send tips, scoops, complaints and Beyonce Super Bowl gifs our way at hcaygle@politico.com and lgardner@politico.com. And don't forget to follow along on Twitter: @Gardner_LM and @heatherscope.
"Rollin' down a backwoods, Tennessee by-way, one arm on the wheel ... "
DRONE DRIBS AND DRABS: FAA Administrator Michael Huerta didn't have much to say on Shuster's ATC shakeup idea during a drone conference Monday but he did divulge a lot of juicy deets on the agency's progress integrating unmanned systems into the national airspace. Huerta said his agency is still on track to finalize its small-drone rule in "late spring" even though the intermediate timelines the FAA has set for itself - including getting the rule to OMB by Jan. 19 - have not been met.
Speaking at the same forum later , GAO aviation director Gerald Dillingham said the FAA should make finalizing the small-drone rule its top priority in the coming months. "We say June or spring of this year but let's complete the small rule, that's our No.1 priority," Dillingham said. An FAA spokeswoman confirmed Monday the rule is still pending at the FAA, even though by its own timeline the regulations should've already been sent to the DOT secretary's office (by mid-December) and on to OMB by now.
HOLY DRONE REGISTRY, BATMAN: More than 325,000 users have signed up since the FAA launched its drone registry in December, according to the latest numbers. Huerta on why that's such a big deal: "To put that in perspective, there are 320,000 manned aircraft on the aircraft registry of the United States of America. And given that in the unmanned registry we assume that there are approximately 1.5 unmanned aircraft per registrant ... clearly we have a much larger number of unmanned aircraft in the registration system."
DON'T BE SHY: Huerta might be a little gun shy right now, but there are plenty of other folks who are happy to sound off on the FAA bill including former Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and David Grizzle, who most recently headed up the agency's Air Traffic Organization until departing in 2013 to advocate for an ATC shakeup. One highlight from Lauren's chat with them on Monday (tune in later this week for more):
- On GA's tepid reception: Grizzle insinuated that private pilots might be moving the goalposts on what they need to support major ATC changes. Shuster crafted some "very innovative compromises" in his bill that addressed many of the GA concerns, Grizzle said, including "a user-fee regime, loss of any participation in the stakeholder body, and now they have half as many seats as the airlines will have on the board."
"And so I think, in some respects, their reflection on the bill simply hasn't caught up with the reality of the bill, because I think Chairman Shuster has substantially addressed all of the previously articulated concerns that they had," he added.
WHY ISN'T MY PIN WORKING?: The DOT ATM for federal transit funds could stop working for D.C., Maryland and Virginia one year from today if the jurisdictions don't come up with a brand new safety oversight body to manage WMATA. In letters obtained by POLITICO and sent Monday, Secretary Anthony Foxx and FTA acting Administrator Therese McMillan spell out for the governments their power to withhold federal transit dollars if they don't respond to their determination that the current state safety oversight agency, or SSOA, is "incapable" of ensuring safety at WMATA.
Reality check: DOT's ability to control the purse strings is the extent of its leverage over stubborn transit agencies with safety problems, since Congress didn't give the FTA power to issue fines. But McMillan told POLITICO last year that authority still "carries a lot of weight" with those agencies, since the bulk of their funding comes from the FTA.
PLANES GET CARBON GLIDE PATH: The U.N.'s aviation body recommended the first-ever global carbon standards for aircraft Monday, announcing an agreement on requirements for a sector where emissions are projected to boom in the coming decades. As Pro Energy's Alex Guillen reports, large commercial planes delivered beginning in 2028 would have to cut their cruising fuel consumption by an average of 4 percent. The standards would apply to both new aircraft designs and models already in production, the White House said.
But greens blasted the agreement for not holding the aviation industry to a tougher standard, given that its impact on climate change is only expected to grow. A senior administration official played down their concerns and pointed to a second agreement expected later this year to ensure growth in the sector is carbon neutral after 2020.
MT FIRST LOOK - NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S GASOLINE: Cars may be getting farther on a gallon of gas than ever before, but that doesn't mean the transportation sector is squeaky clean, according to a new report out today from the Union of Concerned Scientists, with a first look by MT. Emissions from gasoline production skyrocketed by more than a third in 2014 compared to 2005, the report said, thanks to oil companies hunting for the resource in hard-to-reach places that require more energy for the fuel to be extracted and refined.
GREYHOUND TO PONY UP FOR ADA VIOLATIONS: Greyhound will pay out more than $300,000 to passengers for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act in addition to a $75,000 civil penalty, DOJ announced in a settlement agreement Monday. The agreement, which still has to be approved by the U.S. District Court in Delaware, was reached after DOJ accused Greyhound of violating a slew of ADA requirements, including failing to keep lifts and securement equipment on buses, not helping disabled passengers on and off during rest stops and not allowing wheelchair-equipped passengers to book travel online.
Sound off: "We're fully committed to ensuring that customers with disabilities have equal access to our services," Greyhound spokeswoman Lanesha Gipson told MT.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
- Turkish Airlines likely target of bomb plot. The Wall Street Journal
- Folks aren't ready for driverless cars and a good portion of survey respondents think they aren't safe. Morning Consult poll
- Check out this cool map of cellphone reception in the NYC subway. Trust us, it's neat. Via CityLab
- Tesla stock plunges ahead of latest earnings report. Bloomberg
- Part two of Jeff Davis' sit-down with the first-ever Transportation secretary, Alan Boyd. Eno
THE COUNTDOWN: DOT appropriations run out in 234 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 51 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 272 days. Highway and transit policy expires in 1696 days.
THE DAY AHEAD:
9:30 a.m. - The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a meeting on the 8734 commercial truck collision with stopped vehicles on Interstate 88 in Naperville, Ill., on Jan. 27, 2014. 429 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, D.C.
11 a.m. - President Barack Obama will release his fiscal 2017 budget request.
Did we miss an event? Let MT know at transpocalendar@politicopro.com.
Stories from POLITICO Pro
Huerta: More to say on FAA bill soon Back
By Heather Caygle | 02/09/2016 06:00 AM EDT
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta had little to say this morning on the House GOP's plan to spin-off air traffic control from the agency but promised to weigh in soon.
"That is something that we'll be looking at and we'll have more to say in the days and weeks ahead," Huerta said during a drone forum at K&L Gates this morning.
"We're not saying anything about this bill at this point. We're still evaluating what's in it and a response to it," he added.
The FAA chief's comments were almost identical to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx's statement when House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster first unveiled his bill last week.
Shuster is eyeing an ambitious legislative schedule with plans for a committee markup later this week and, if all goes well, floor time the last week of February.
Huerta said he hopes the final House product will be a bipartisan bill that "enhances safety, improves efficiency and advances aviation in general."
ICAO adopts first-ever aircraft greenhouse gas standards Back
By Alex Guillén | 02/09/2016 06:00 AM EDT
An international aviation body today set the first-ever greenhouse gas emission limits for the world's aircraft.
Large commercial aircraft delivered starting in 2028 will have to reduce their cruising fuel consumption by an average of 4 percent, according to the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization.
Overall reductions will range from zero to 11 percent, depending on the size of the aircraft, according to a preliminary analysis from the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation.
"Given the substantial lead time for the standards, along with anticipated fuel efficiency gains for new aircraft types already in development by manufacturers, the standards will serve primarily to prevent backsliding in emissions," says ICCT's analysis.
The standards were approved today by ICAO's 170-member panel of experts. The organization's 36-member State Governing Council must still adopt them.
EPA has taken the first step toward regulating greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft, which contribute 3 percent of total U.S. emissions but also represent one of the fastest growing sectors for emissions.
EPA is expected to finalize a scientific endangerment finding on aircraft this year, which would be followed eventually by a rulemaking.
Environmentalists fear that the U.S. will stick to the ICAO standard, as it has done with past standards on nitrogen oxide emissions. They are pushing the U.S. to adopt more stringent standards and to require existing aircraft to find ways to curb emissions through upgrades or efficiency improvements.
Greens blast international aircraft standard as 'laughable,' 'unambitious' Back
By Alex Guillén | 02/09/2016 06:00 AM EDT
Environmentalists today criticized new international greenhouse gas standards for aircraft and urged EPA to set more stringent rules.
The new standards from the International Civil Aviation Organization will require an average 4 percent improvement in cruising fuel consumption in aircraft delivered starting in 2028, a date that Center for Biological Diversity attorney Vera Pardee called "laughable."
But officials from CBD and other groups slammed practically every aspect of the standard, calling it so weak that aircraft are expected to be able to meet them as early as 2017.
"The reality is it won't produce any incremental emission reductions beyond business as usual," said Bill Hemmings of the European green group Transport & Environment.
Activists note that the standard doesn't apply to the vast fleet of existing aircraft. They also argue the standards are "unambitious," that they didn't consider emission spikes during take-off and landing, and that they give incentives to leading aircraft manufacturers to keep selling existing designs through 2028 rather than upgrading their designs earlier.
EPA will soon begin writing rules governing aircraft emissions, and environmentalists hope the agency issues more stringent rules than ICAO. Nations have to at least comply with ICAO's standard, Pardee said, but are free to go even further.
The U.S. should set "technology-forcing" standards that force airplane makers to curb significantly more emissions, the environmentalists said. They also called on EPA to explore opportunities to reduce emissions from the existing fleet, citing major efficiency gaps between domestic carriers.´
White House downplays greens' concerns on aircraft standard Back
By Alex Guillén | 02/09/2016 06:00 AM EDT
A senior Obama administration official downplayed environmentalists' criticisms that a new international standard for greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft is too weak, saying the White House is "quite pleased with this outcome."
It was on the upper end of the range of options of the table, the official added. Environmentalists lashed out quickly today, arguing that the new standards are so lax that many new aircraft will be able to meet them as early as 2017, 11 years before the standard requires it.
The official declined to discuss the timeframe for EPA to take action on aircraft emissions. The agency is expected to issue an endangerment finding this summer, triggering regulatory action.
Today's aircraft standard also lays the groundwork for another international agreement supporters hope will be struck this year to make growth in the aviation sector carbon neutral after 2020, the official said.
"There's projections of rapid growth in aviation globally, especially in emerging economies, and this is a much more comprehensive approach that's coming later this year to make sure that we can make that carbon neutral on a global basis from the year 2020," said the official. "That will make a real contribution to the overall post-Paris climate action agenda."
Such an agreement still needs to be negotiated, but the official said things are "on a roll" after December's Paris agreement.