The Foundry

Posts Tagged ‘transportation’

• $7-A-Gallon Gas Needed to Meet Government’s CO2 Cuts

  Posted March 3rd, 2010 at 12:08pm in Energy and Environment with 31 comments

  As the national average of gasoline creeps to three dollars a gallon, economists are warning that high gas prices in the United States could slow the economic recovery. Other countries’ economies are recovering more quickly and increased production and activity is putting upward pressure on oil prices. That coupled with a relatively weak US dollar [...] More

• Waxman Markey Cap and Trade’s Biggest Losers: Transportation

  Posted June 25th, 2009 at 2:59pm in Energy and Environment with 2 comments

  The auto industry has long been a target of environmental activists. The push to put American consumers in smaller cars has been made quite clear. First, the Obama Administration enacted higher fuel efficiency standards – standards laden with unintended consequences. Now Congress is considering a cap and trade proposal that, by 2035, would raise inflation-adjusted [...] More

• Vehicle Mileage Tax Still Bad Idea

  Posted April 29th, 2009 at 10:28am in Ongoing Priorities with 5 comments

  Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) came out strongly in favor of a vehicle mileage tax (VMT) yesterday. Just two months ago Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood floated a similar idea, but was quickly shot down by the Obama Administration. The VMT was a bad idea in February and it’s a bad idea now. Below is what we wrote when [...] More

• Obama Administration Transportation Policy Needs a Jump-start

  Posted February 20th, 2009 at 4:57pm in Ongoing Priorities with 8 comments

  The Obama administration’s initial efforts at transportation policy are off to a rocky start. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood this morning came out in favor tracking and taxing drivers on the miles they drive instead of the amount of gas they consume. Almost immediately a spokesperson at the Transportation Department said such a system will not [...] More

• 387 Congressmen Agree, Running up the Deficit to Pay for Pork is a Good Idea

  Posted July 29th, 2008 at 10:30am in Ongoing Priorities with 0 comments

  In a process familiar to any troubled sub prime borrower, the current federal highway reauthorization bill spends more money than it takes in. Historically, any excess spending is paid through the Federal Highway Trust Fund and has always been exclusively funded through the gas tax. However, in an unprecedented action, the House overwhelmingly passed HR [...] More

• Morning Bell: Bringing Accountability Back to Transportation Funding

  Posted July 29th, 2008 at 9:11am in Ongoing Priorities with 5 comments

  The steep rise in gas prices has had a dramatic impact on American driving habits. According to Federal Highway Administration data, this May marked the seventh consecutive month that Americans drove fewer miles this year than the year before. Americans drove almost 10 billion fewer miles in May 2008 than they did in May 2007. [...] More

• The Rail Line To Nowhere

  Posted February 25th, 2008 at 11:45am in Energy and Environment with 0 comments

  The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority plan to extend Metrorail 11.6 miles to Dulles International Airport has enjoyed support from the Congressional leaders in both parties, the Governor of Virginia and the local business community. With all this political muscle, however, the plan is now on life support after the Federal Transit Administration found the project [...] More

• A Private Solution to D.C. Transit?

  Posted January 28th, 2008 at 10:59am in Enterprise and Free Markets with 0 comments

  Last week, the federal government indicated it was reconsidering a $900 million grant to fund a massive expansion of the Washington Metro. Today, the Washington Post reports that a funding solution may be in sight: private investors may help the rail extension project meet its funding needs. As reported previously on The Foundry, the publicly-run Metro [...] More