It’s Not Easy Being Green, or Tuesday’s Headlines

  • The Biden administration talks a good game on climate change, but its short-term policies are focused on bringing gas prices down, which will encourage more driving. (Politico)
  • Senators are spending the August recess in their home states either touting or demonizing the infrastructure bill. (Bloomberg)
  • The federal government should fund transit at the same level as highways, because cities can’t afford to build transit projects by themselves. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
  • The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is investigating Tesla because vehicles on autopilot have hit emergency vehicles at least 11 times. (CNN)
  • A New Orleans native and architectural critic documents how the Claiborne Expressway erased a vibrant Black neighborhood. (Washington Post)
  • Some New Yorkers who bought cars during the pandemic will go back to public transit, but unfortunately others have fallen in love with them. (Car and Driver)
  • With ridership down 90 percent on commuter rail, Virginia Railway Express could become something more like a second D.C. Metro. (Virginia Mercury)
  • Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill fast-tracking high-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis. (Smart Cities Dive)
  • Philadelphia transit agency SEPTA is testing two bus-only lanes in Center City. (WHYY)
  • We love to see parking garages repurposed — but not as COVID wards. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)
  • Sound Transit is partnering with the city of Seattle on a community of tiny homes for low-income residents. (Progressive Railroading)
  • Detroit’s MoGo is using community outreach and education about safe biking and its health benefits to overcome skepticism about bike-shares in neighborhoods of color. (Shareable)
  • Aspen’s WE-cycle is piloting solar-powered e-bike chargers. (Denver Post)
  • Low-rise but high-density cities like Paris are in the best position to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a CU Boulder study. (Phys.org)

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Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y. bikes in his city, but his budget reconciliation measure may not include anything for active modes. Image: Planet Gordon, CC

Reconciliation Bill Will Go Big on EVs

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The massive reconciliation bill under consideration in Congress would fall short of achieving our greenhouse gas reduction target — and the climate wins it does achieve would come disproportionately from consumer incentives for electric vehicles, rather than by shifting drivers out of cars.