Blueprint America

The New York Times/ Greenwire – The Senate this afternoon will begin debate on a $34.3 billion fiscal 2010 energy and water spending bill as environmental groups press lawmakers to strip provisions they say will damage wetlands and fish habitat in Missouri.

Overall, the Senate bill, S. 1436 (pdf), would provide $27.4 billion to the Energy Department, $5.4 billion to the Army Corps of Engineers and $1.1 billion to the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation.

The amendment picture was not clear at press time, however a coalition of environmental groups was pressing for changes they say are necessary to protect fish and wetlands near the Mississippi River in Missouri.

In a July 23 letter (pdf), the groups urged Senate leaders to remove two bill riders that would shift $3.9 million from a fish restoration project in southern Missouri to the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project, a flood control program.

“These provisions would obstruct compliance with a federal court order by rescinding FY 2009 funds the corps intends to use to deconstruct structures to restore the habitat and the channel of the St. Johns River,” said the letter, which was sent last week to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and signed by officials from the Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society and eight other groups.

The corps should use the money to undo environmental damage caused by the initial construction of a floodplain project that a federal judge later ruled illegal, the letter said. [read more...]

The Denver Post – When the Spire condominium building in downtown Denver opens in November, it will be among a handful of high-rise residential towers that achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

Short translation: It’s green.

The designation, coupled with the building’s affordable prices, is a key selling point for the 41-story project at 14th and Champa streets, said Chris Crosby, executive vice president of the Nichols Partnership, which is developing the project.

“Our focus is on attainability and sustainability, in that order,” Crosby said.

Spire’s green features include a LEED-compliant air-filtration system, trash-recycling chutes on all floors and products made of recycled materials.

For Lindsay Smith, buying a condo in a green building is key.

“When I was looking, the LEED aspect of Spire was one of the things that really stood out to me,” the sustainability manager for the Colorado Convention Center said. “It’s a passion of mine, both professionally and personally. They have a lot of innovation that I don’t think we’ve seen so far inDenver buildings.”

She’s selling her car and plans to participate in the Connect by Hertz program Spire will offer, a pay-as-you-go car club that allows members to book a car, pick it up and drive away for an hour, a day or more.

Though they’re more expensive, dual-flush toilets and fixtures designed for water conservation are higher-quality than those typically installed in residential projects, Smith said.

“It’s hopefully setting a bar for other buildings,” she said.

There are 94 LEED-certified multi- unit residential projects nationwide — the first in Pittsburgh in 2003 — according to the U.S. Green Building Council. Of those, 44 are Silver, the level Nichols wants to achieve for Spire.

LEED is a point-based system where building projects are graded for satisfying specific green building criteria in six categories. Platinum is highest, gold next, then silver.

Despite the additional cost to attain LEED certification, the developer remains focused on keeping units affordable. About 60 percent of Spire’s condos are priced at less than $400,000, far lower than most large condominium projects.

With 496 units, Spire will be the largest multifamily LEED-certified building in the metro region. [read more...]

American City Business Journals/Orlando, Fla. – The U.S House of Representatives passed its housing and infrastructure bill July 23 on a 256-168 vote. The bill includes nearly $4 billion for high-speed rail and other national infrastructure projects.

Of the $4 billion in funding, $2 billion will be designated for high-speed and the remaining funds will go into the national infrastructure bank, which provides funding for other transportation-related projects.

This funding is separate from approximately $8 billion set aside to provide financial support for high-speed rail projects in President Barack Obama’s stimulus package.

The Senate has yet to vote on its similar bill. [read more...]

The New York Times/ Greenwire – The United States can cut greenhouse gas emissions from transportation in half by 2050 with strategies ranging from cutting speed limits to imposing road pricing, according to a report released today by federal agencies and environmental and industry groups.

Examining about 50 transportation strategies, the report found transportation emissions could be reduced 24 percent by 2050 by acting to change travel behavior and land-use patterns. The emissions reduction hit 47 percent by adding road pricing techniques, ranging from pay-as-you-go insurance to charging Americans for every mile driven.

The report found environmental gains from advances in fuel efficiency would be mostly undermined by increased travel and population, making it important to address the efficiency of the transportation sector by investing in public transit, land-use planning and other low-carbon alternatives. [read more...]

The Wall Street Journal – House lawmakers appear unlikely to reach agreement this summer over how to pay for a major transportation bill, disappointing state governments, transit agencies and construction companies hoping for a big boost in funding.

At a House hearing on Thursday, lawmakers debated different tax-hike proposals to pay for the bill, including new levies on motor fuels, shipping containers and crude-oil trading. But there appeared to be a lack of consensus, with three leading members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee offering different plans.

The transportation bill would channel $450 billion in funds to states over six years to upgrade roads, bridges and transit systems. The total would include $70 billion each year to spend on highway and mass transit systems.

“It’s extraordinarily unlikely” the bill would pass before October, said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D., Ore.), a leading proponent of the measure.

Instead, Congress is likely to extend the current annual spending level of about $50 billion, before it expires in September, following the White House’s suggestion. The Obama administration, seeking to pass an ambitious legislative agenda this year including a health-care overhaul, has said it is in no hurry to engage on a debate that potentially involves raising gas taxes, the primary source of funding for transport projects. [read more...]

The Los Angeles Times – In February, when Congress approved President Obama’s mammoth plan to stimulate the economy, transportation projects were supposed to be among the fastest-acting pieces of the $787-billion package.

All 50 states moved quickly to qualify for their share of the money. But since then the pace has slowed considerably, particularly in California and Florida, where the effect of the economic crisis has been especially severe.

As of July 10, more than 3,600 of the 5,600 road projects approved by Washington — including six of the 10 largest approved projects — had not been given the green light to start construction.

“What we’re seeing is a significant level of bidding activity,” said Anne Lloyd, chief financial officer at Martin Marietta Materials, a nationwide supplier of stone, asphalt and other construction supplies. “But the big thing we’re not seeing is work on the ground.”

The reasons are many. One is the time needed to get heavy equipment and crews ready for jobs. Also, overburdened state officials have sometimes had trouble sustaining the early momentum.

Even where projects have begun, they haven’t always brought with them as big a burst of hiring as might be expected. [read more...]

The Associated Press – President Barack Obama’s high-speed rail initiative would get an enormous boost under a spending bill that a House committee approved Friday.

Obama sought $1 billion for construction of a high-speed system and other intercity rail lines, which would come on top of $8 billion provided in the economic stimulus bill in February.

The House Appropriations Committee decided to provide $4 billion, part of a $123 billion measure covering transportation and housing programs.

Rep. John Olver, D-Mass., said the earlier money had generated about $70 billion in grant requests for high-speed rail projects.

Democrats turned back a GOP effort to take $3 billion of the rail money and deposit it in the Highway Trust Fund, which is expected to go broke next month. [read more...]

The Associated Press – A federal investigator says the operator of a light-rail train that crashed in San Francisco, injuring dozens of passengers, switched his controls from automatic to manual before he should have.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Ted Turpin said Sunday that the operator switched to manual in a tunnel near West Portal Station, instead of inside the station.

The operator, who has not been named, was injured in Saturday’s collision.

Turpin says the train crashed into a train parked at the station 24 seconds after the operator made the switch. The collision injured 48 people – four seriously.

Turpin says investigators haven’t interviewed train operators, and haven’t yet determined why the switch was made. [read more...]

The Associated Press – US officials said Thursday they had received applications for 278 high-speed rail projects that could be selected for funding under the economic stimulus package.

“The response has been tremendous and shows that the country is ready for high-speed rail,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

He said his agency received 278 pre-applications for grant funding under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for high-speed rail project, which aims to rival the express trains of France, Japan and other nations.

“It’s time to look beyond our highways and invest in public transportation services like rail, which will enhance regional mobility and reduce our carbon footprint,” LaHood said.

The stimulus, or recovery act, included an eight billion dollar competitive grant program as a down payment to develop high-speed and intercity passenger rail networks.

President Barack Obama has proposed a continuing one billion dollar annual investment to further this effort, LaHood added.

Officials plan to award the first round of grants by mid-September under the new rail plan first revealed by Obama in April. [read more...]