Today’s Headlines

  • The details on that post-Toyota auto safety reform bill that Congress is drafting (Free Press)
  • Sen. Graham (R-SC) tells Ezra Klein that White House’s vehement rejection of carbon fees as a "gas tax" helped push him away from the negotiating table on climate change
  • Green Buildings Council, Congress for the New Urbanism, and the Natural Resources Defense Council release a new guide to sustainable neighborhood design (USGBC Press)
  • LaHood advises North Carolina’s various metro planning orgs to "speak with one voice" in order to get a greater shot at winning federal transportation funding (W-S Journal)
  • Treasury Dept. defends its fuzzy math on General Motors’ bailout loan repayment (SF Chron Blogs)
  • American Lung Association reports that six in 10 individuals living with polluted air (AP)
  • Oberstar takes aim at EPA for blog post on the benefits of vegetarianism (Star-Trib Blogs)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

The White House could exclude climate change from new infrastructure projects in a revision of a 50-year-old environmental rule this week. Image: J. Daniel Escareño

Congress Vows to Fight Trump’s Environmental Rule Change

By Aaron Short |
The Transportation Research Board’s 99th Annual Meeting will be held in Washington, D.C. from Jan. 12-16, 2020. Click here for more information. Congressional leaders vowed they won’t let the president get away with gutting environmental laws after learning the Trump administration will scrap requirements to consider the climate consequences for new highways and pipelines. A White […]

Transit Planners to Congress: Please Figure Out How to Fund Us

By Elana Schor |
To all but the most ardent transit wonks, the phrase "New Starts" sounds like a motivational tape sold on late-night TV. But those two words actually represent Washington’s predominant mechanism to pay for major transit expansions — everything from expanding an existing rail station to building a new bus line. Minnesota’s Hiawatha rail line is […]