| NACA
Members | Past
Issues | Key Contacts |
.Volume 3, No.32 |
..August 3, 2007 |
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The U.S. House of Representatives introduced and then passed a new technical corrections bill (H.R. 3248) that contains language correcting the cost share of federally funded research from 50/50 to 80/20.
The move came Tuesday after the measure was dropped from the Water Resources and Development Act legislation.
In addition, the bill provides contract authority for the Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) program. This means the $90 million in funds authorized in SAFETEA-LU can be allocated immediately. There is $45 million identified for a project between Las Vegas and Primm, Nev.; the remaining $45 million will be allocated among three east coast projects.
A similar bill has passed the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee but has not been voted on by the full Senate.
Contact David Hubbard
or John Sullivan.
The National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007 bill (no bill number available), was introduced by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), on Wednesday.
The legislation would provide a way to revitalize, repair, and replace aging and crumbling roads, bridges, transit systems, and water treatment facilities.
"The current infrastructure in our country is wholly inadequate to handle the demands of a 21st Century economy," Sen. Hagel said in a statement. "We see our ports backed-up by expanding international trade, our rails overloaded by our increasing energy demands, and our highways hopelessly clogged by traffic. We run the risk of being left behind by our international competitors if we do not begin to modernize our national infrastructure."
Under the legislation, the National Infrastructure Bank would be an independent entity of the government tasked with evaluating and financing capacity-building infrastructure projects of substantial regional and national significance.
Infrastructure projects that would come under the bank's consideration would be publicly owned mass transit systems, housing properties, roads, bridges, drinking water systems, and wastewater systems.
The bank would be modeled after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The bank would be led by a five-member board of directors, each appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Infrastructure projects with a potential federal investment of at least $75 million would be brought to the bank's attention by a project sponsor, such as a state, locality, tribe, infrastructure agency, or a consortium of these entities.
Under the bill, the financing package could include direct subsidies, direct loan guarantees, long-term tax-credit general purpose bonds, and long-term tax-credit infrastructure project specific bonds. The initial ceiling to issue bonds is set at $60 billion.
The bill has been referred to the banking committee.
Contact
David Hubbard
or John Sullivan.
The U.S. House of Representatives this week approved by a vote of 381-40 the conference report for H.R. 1495, the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, or WDRA.
The legislation authorizes 940 navigation, flood control, water supply, and environmental restoration projects under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The White House has threaten to veto the measure citing that the $21 billion cost of the bill was "both unnecessary and unaffordable."
At press time, it was unclear whether or not the Senate would take up the measure prior to adjourning for the August recess.
Contact: David
Hubbard.
The U.S. Senate this week unanimously approved S. 775, the National Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2007, which establishes a national commission on infrastructure.
Under the measure, the commission is required to complete a study of "all matters relating to the infrastructure of the United States" by February 15, 2009.
The study will report on the age and condition of public infrastructure; financing methods for the construction and maintenance of public works projects; trend in innovation financing and investment needs; and, the projected federal-state share of investment.
The measure next moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Contact David
Hubbard or John Sullivan.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last week vacated two important parts of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) hours-of-service regulations.
They included the
increase of the daily driving limit from 10 hours to 11 and the 34-hour
"restart" option for weekly on-duty limits. These actions
result form a lawsuit brought by Public Citizen and others.
The court cited the FMCSA's failure to provide adequate notice and comment
under the Administrative Procedure Act as grounds for vacating the 11-hour
provision and the 34-hour restart. The court's ruling represents the
second time the DC Circuit has found against FMCSA's hours of service
rules.
The FMCSA has 45 days to petition for reconsideration. The court's mandate will issue within 7 days of that date (i.e., by September 14). FMCSA or other parties may also seek a stay of the order to keep the current provisions in place pending further agency action. The American Trucking Association has already announced it will seek a stay.
If the order is not stayed, federal rules will prohibit commercial drivers from operating their vehicles more than 10 hours within a continuous 14-hour period. Commercial drivers also will be limited to "weekly" limits of 60 hours during a seven-day period and 70 hours during an eight-day period, all with no opportunity for a "restart" after taking off 34 consecutive hours.
For the construction industry, the 24-hour clock-restart exemption for construction material deliveries (which is found in Section 345 of the National Highway Designation Act of 1995, or PL 105-50, 109 Stat. 568) remains unaffected by the court's ruling.
Contact Robert
Sullivan.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week published the regulatory impact analysis (RIA) estimating the costs and benefits of establishing a new national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone.
The EPA recently proposed lowering the ozone NAAQS from 0.08 parts per million (ppm) to somewhere between 0.070 and 0.075 ppm.
The RIA examines each end of this range, as well as hypothetical standards of 0.065 ppm and 0.079 ppm. According to the RIA, lowering the standard to 0.075 ppm would prevent 1100 to 3500 premature deaths per year, with those ranges increasing to 1500-5400 at 0.070 ppm, and then up to 9200 at 0.065 ppm and 20-2000 at 0.079.
Upon release of
the document, representatives of environmental groups accused the White
House of tampering with the findings.
Contact
Tom Carter.
At a hearing this week of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, members sparred more over who should participate in the hearing than over substantive issues.
Republican members criticized Chairwoman Lynn C. Woolsey (D-Calif.) for not inviting representatives of Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) or the mining industry to testify at the hearing. An MSHA official invited by the minority was ultimately allowed to testify, but a representative of the National Mining Association was turned away after a party-line vote of the Subcommittee.
The hearing was called to discuss two bills introduced by Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller (D-Calif.).
One bill would increase penalties imposed by MSHA and the other would automatically incorporate standards established by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health as MSHA-permissible exposure limits for various chemicals.
Contact
Tom Carter.
Senators Joe Lieberman (I/D-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) yesterday unveiled a draft plan that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions 70 percent by 2050.
Under the proposed cap-and-trade plan, which will be introduced in the fall as the Lieberman-Warner America's Security Act of 2007, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would be capped at the current level in 2012. The cap would be lowered each year between 2012 and 2050.
The Senators' proposal is intended to dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions without harming the U.S. economy. The cap-and-trade plan has been touted by some as a potential breakthrough legislation to slow global warming.
The two senators said they hoped to receive input on the plan from corporations, the military, and other interested parties during the August Congressional recess.
Industries covered under the plan would be able to purchase credits for compliance through a cap-and-trade program. To keep costs under control, the bill would establish the Climate Change Credit Corp. as a nonprofit corporation without stock. It would oversee an auction for the distribution of 24 percent of the credits.
Lieberman lauded the idea of such a corporation, saying he did not want money collected to go into the federal Treasury but rather be recycled for public-private investment.
U.S. Senate Environment and Public Work Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D. Calif.) supports the plan and intends to schedule a full committee hearing shortly after Congress returns from its August recess.
Contact David
Hubbard.
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