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Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) of the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a draft of the "American Clean Energy Security Act” (ACESA) climate change bill on Friday, May 15. The bill currently provides no investment in public transportation. The committee will begin markup today with the goal of reporting the bill to the full House this week. ACESA retains language that would establish emission reductions goals for the transportation sector (Sec. 222, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Through Transportation Efficiency), but no funding is made available from the bill’s proposed cap-and-trade system to finance transportation investments that reduce emissions. APTA President Bill Millar sent a letter to Chairman Waxman today expressing deep disappointment in the bill’s failure to provide transit investment. To view the letter, click here.
APTA continues to work with members of the committee to seek an amendment that would provide investment in public transportation under the ACESA cap-and-trade program. However, obtaining investment is made difficult by agreements Chairman Waxman made last week with key committee Democrats regarding the amount of emissions allowances and allowance revenue provided to electric utilities and energy intensive, trade-exposed industries (e.g. the steel and automotive industries). These agreements are intended to bring Chairman Waxman enough votes to pass the bill out of committee, but very little allowance revenue is left for other investments such as public transportation.
ACTION ALERT:
APTA strongly urges its members to immediately contact your U.S. Representative, particularly members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. A link to facilitate e-mails to Congress is provided below. When you talk to the members, please ask the following:
• Urge your Representative or their staff to contact Chairman Waxman and the Energy and Commerce Committee to express support for transit investment.
• Explain that transit investment will bring climate revenues back to their local community.
• Express strong concern that while ACESA contains new transportation planning requirements (Sec. 222), it fails to invest in public transportation.
• Explain that ACESA provides investment and transition assistance to numerous private industries, but the energy savings and emissions reductions from public transportation are overlooked. It may be useful to cite one or more of the following examples:
Public transportation use last year prevented the emission of more than 37 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. Those emissions savings are equivalent to electricity used by 4.9 million households. Our nation’s transportation system produces one-third of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the U.S., and transportation is the fastest growing domestic source of greenhouse gas emissions, yet public transportation receives zero allowance value in ACESA.
In contrast, the electricity sector will receive up to 35 percent of ACESA annual allowance value.
Public transportation use in America saves 4.2 billion gallons of fuel each year and helps Americans reduce their commuting costs by escaping the high costs of gasoline and car ownership. In fact, riding public transportation can save an individual an average of $8,691 a year based on recent average gas and parking prices, yet public transportation receives zero allowance value in ACESA.
In contrast, oil refineries receive 2 percent of ACESA annual allowance value.
Expanding public transportation is a proven strategy to make our transportation system more efficient and our roads less congested. Transit use saves more than 541 million hours in travel time and hundreds of millions of gallons of gasoline by reducing congestion each year. In the future, growth in vehicle travel will negate much of the emission savings from improved vehicle economy and new fuels. Even with a fully electrified transportation system, public transportation will be needed to fight congestion and expand mobilty, yet public transportation receives zero allowance value in ACESA.
In contrast, the automotive industry will receive up to 3 percent of ACESA annual allowance value for advanced automobile technologies.
For a summary of current allowance allocations in ACESA, please click here.
For additional information, please contact Homer Carlisle of APTA’s Government Affairs Department at (202) 496-4810 or hcarlisle@apta.com.
To e-mail your Member of Congress, click here.
To view a list of Energy and Commerce Committee members, click here. |
U.S. Senate Bill Would Permit Use of Stimulus Funds for Transit Operating Assistance
This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to consider a Supplemental Appropriations bill that would allow transit agencies to use up to 10 percent of the formula funds received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to cover operating costs of “equipment and facilities for use in public transportation.”
The legislation, S. 1054, The Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, provides emergency spending for a number of federal programs, including the Department of Defense to maintain war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar version of this legislation last week, which did not contain comparable language on transit operating assistance.
The provision in the Senate bill would allow grant applications that have already been submitted for formula funds under ARRA to be amended to make funds available for operating assistance. This provision was added to the Senate legislation in response to requests to help transit agencies avoid fare hikes, service cuts and lay-offs due to shrinking local revenues. APTA has endorsed this provision, consistent with our position during the debate over the ARRA legislation earlier this year to make a portion of stimulus funds eligible for operating assistance. Transit funds provided under ARRA are from general revenues, and do not come out of the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund.
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Once the bill passes the Senate, it is expected to quickly move to a House-Senate conference committee to develop a compromise bill for the President’s signature. APTA urges all members to contact their legislators to urge them to support the Senate provision in the Supplemental Appropriations Act that will allow transit agencies to use a portion of their ARRA funds for operating assistance. For more information on this provision, please contact Paul Dean of APTA’s Government Affairs Department at (202) 496-4892 or email pdean@apta.com.
ACTION ALERT:
- Contact your legislators and urge them to support the inclusion of the Senate language that allows a portion of ARRA funds to be used for operating assistance in the final version of the Supplemental Appropriations Act.
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