Yesterday’s News

Mar 20:

• Ray LaHood has become careful with his words since a slapdown last month by Obama’s press secretary. (NYT)
• Regulators support new power lines across the country to carry wind energy, say they should run along rail lines. (WSJ)
• Head of New York’s MTA: Expect fare to rise to $2.50. (WNYC)
• Residents of the Big Apple also face the prospect of doomsday service cuts. (Streetsblog)
• Planners in New York have $50 billion worth of transportation projects on their wish list and $5 billion to spend. (NY1)
• Smart metering firms are gearing up as the smart grid becomes more of a reality. (Business Green)
• California’s high speed rail line would pass through Palo Alto. Palo Alto asks if maybe it should pass “under.” (San Jose Mercury News)
• High speed rail fever comes to Oklahoma. (Oklahoman)

Mar 19:

• Schwarzenegger goes out in the field to celebrate a $47 million bridge-building project in Merced, California. It will create 800 jobs. (Modesto Bee)
• Two giant agencies, US DOT and HUD, are joining forces to coordinate planning on transportation and housing policy with the goal of more livable and sustainable communities.
• Trendwatch: People are fly-fishing in weird places — for instance, at the mouths of drainage pipes near wastewater treatment facilities. (WSJ)
• Spanish cities are installing electric car infrastructure. (Treehugger)
• Southern states get $565 million for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. (EPA)
• A streetcar named SLUT. (Seattle PI)

Mar 18:

• S.C. governor negged in his attempt to use stimu-bucks to pay down debt — the money in question must be used “for” or “in support of” education. (Atlantic)
• Connecticut considers congestion pricing for it’s busiest highways. (Hartford Courant)
• New Mexico will make contractors on stimulus projects disclose all their campaign contributions. (WaPo)
• The Department of Energy is too burdened worrying about nuclear waste to fulfill its other important functions. (NYT Op-Ed)
• More chaos in New York’s ongoing MTA bailout saga–the rebel Dems’ piecemeal plan hit resistance. (Daily News)
• An in-depth guide to how the government help pay for home improvements that increase energy efficiency. (WSJ)
• Weatherization funds could create 6500 jobs in Massachusetts. (Wicked Local News)
• Tired of watching people speed past in the HOV lane? Consider investing in a doll like this guy did. (Roadguy)

Mar 17:

• The argument heats up among state and local government as to who had the nation’s first stimulus project. (NYT)
• Stimulus money is supposed to be spent quickly — but nobody knows all the rules yet. (WaPo)
  Delays in starting work on a “shovel ready” bridge spotlighted by Joe Biden illustrate how slippery construction schedules can be. (WSJ)
• Hybrid car sales have collapsed — down nearly two-thirds since April — now that gas is cheap again. And if you buy a hybrid Chevy Tahoe, demand $6,000 cash back. (LAT)
• Yet another story about how the US is ready to re-discover rail. Because high speed rail is great. Even though we won’t be getting real high speed rail in most places. (USA Today)
• East Texas wants in on the high speed rail party. Leaders are looking to join a Southern HSR Compact with LA, MS, and AL. (News Journal - Longview, TX)
• Amsterdam is becoming the global showcase city for smart grid technology. (Der Speigel)
• In other Biden news: He F-bombed a live mic at his Amtrak press Conference. (HuffPo)

Mar 16:

• At the Asphalt World convention, there’s a lot of color (fancy embroidered shirts!) and optimism, but the industry has been badly hurt by the recession. (NYT)
• Pelosi is now less optimistic about the number of jobs that will be created by the stimulus — 3 million, she says. (Politico)
• $1.3 billion for Amtrak will erase some of the agency’s $5 billion maintenance backlog. For instance: $82 million to repair 68 passenger cars. (Ithaca Journal)
• Wind, solar, geothermal? Nah. Thomas Friedman thinks lasers could be the silver bullet for America’s energy crisis. (NYT)
• There’s heat in Minnesota about the route of a proposed high speed link between Chicago and the Twin Cities. (Star Trib)
• China said it’s $500 billion stimulus would be green. But now it’s slashing environmental provisions. (Bloomberg)
• Michigan’s senators announce $60 million in funding for new train signals. (Detroit Free Press)
• When countries spend a little to conserve forests and marshes, it can save billions in water infrasturcture investments. (Bloomberg)
• The future is bright for LED street lights. (Pasadena Star News)

Mar 13:

• Obama will be getting a progress report on the stimulus package from recession slayer, Paul Volcker. (AP)
• Texas governor Rick Perry joins S.C.’s Mark Sanford in declining part of it’s share of federal money. (Dallas Morning News)
• “Amtrak” Joe Biden will be hosting an event at DC’s Union Station, announcing stimulus funding for his namesake agency. (WaPo)
• Pittsburgh gets the first slug of stimulus money for airport renewal — $10 million to fix a runway and $2 million for taxi ramps. (Forbes)
• High speed rail the solution to Michigan’s economic woes? (Kalamazoo Gazette)
• California officials lay out an ambitious—and expensive—plan for a new rail station in SF that would keep up with demand for the next 100 years. (SF Chronicle)
• The NY Times dresses down some state senators over their willingness to see transit fares rise and service get cut in the Big Apple.

Mar 12:

• Second stimulus? “Too soon,” says Barney Frank and other Dems agree. (Politico)
• Geither wants global coordination of stimulus packages. (ABC)
• A plan by L.A.-area cities to barter and swap their stimulus funds has been nixed by authorities. (NYT)
• Greenpeace says the U.S. can be powered almost entirely with renewables. (LAT)
• Sea level rise in California could cost $100 billion in damage — and flood 330 hazardous waste sites. (Bloomberg)
• Bush shelved an experimental clean coal plant — doing so may have set our technology back ten years in the area. (WaPo)
• $125 million for a high speed rail line linking Des Moines and Chicago? (Radio Iowa)
• In a “stimulus summit” at the White House, state officials will discuss with Obama how they plan put their share to use. (AP)

Mar 11:

• We have to keep “the door open” to a second stimulus package, says Nancy Pelosi. (WaPo)
• America’s 100 busiest intersections are mostly in New York, LA and Chicago. (Forbes)
• A homegrown stimulus package in Carrollton, Texas, is directly modeled on Roosevelt’s WPA. (WSJ Video)
• Subway stations, the Fulton Street transit station, and Brooklyn Bridge upgrades are all on NYC’s spending list for stimulus dollars. (WNYC)
• In North Carolina, local and state leaders are squabbling over transportation priorities for stimulus money. (USA Today)
• A fancy new-fangled “variable frequency transformer” is giving utilities more control over how power flows through the grid. (NYT - Green Inc.)
• Thousands of gallons of toxic coal ash spilled in Maryland. (AP)
• Sweden is raising emissions taxes on cars with the aim of phasing out fossil fuel-burning models by 2030. (Bloomberg)

Mar 10:

• Obama seemed to nix the idea of taxing motorists based on how far they drive. But a lot of states are giving it careful consideration. (NPR)
• James Oberstar, point man on transportation policy in the House, is all for it. (NYT)
• In state capitals, a range of interpretations for the what all this stimulus loot is actually, like, for. (WaPo)
• The Lorax is a bit dim. He should be speaking for the skyscrapers. (NYT)
• The wonders of the Smart Grid are on display at an office park in northern Kentucky. (WaPo)
• Likely NYC mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner wants to exempt city residents from proposed new tolls on local bridges. (StreetsBlog)
• Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is a big fan of offshore wind power. (AP)
• China is stockpiling oil. Lots and lots of oil. The country’s leadership seems to be of the opinion that price declines are temporary. (Reuters)
• The Boston T is $8 billion in the red — time for a bake sale! (Gawker)

Mar 9:

• Americans took 10.7 billion rides on public transportation last year, more than ever before. (NYT)
• But ridership is likely headed down soon, with unemployment rising fast. (Overhead Wire)
• The World Bank says the global economy could shrink this year and its president urges investment in infrastructure . (CQ News)
• There is a glut in natural gas production coming. (FT)
• Detroit, with $100 houses, is attracting a small migration of idealists. (NYT)
• High speed passenger rail in America has roots going back to the Great Depression. (Baltimore Sun)

Mar 6:

• Details emerge about China’s stimulus: it includes $219 billion for highways and rail. (USA Today)
• Colorado lawmakers are considering a measure that would allow small, slow electric vehicles on public roads. (INO)
• California’s high speed rail authority is suffering a severe cash crunch. (SF Chronicle)
• With Yucca Mountain nixed, the Dept of Energy considers what to do with nuclear waste. (Reuters)
• The country’s largest solar roof is on the Atlantic City convention center. It’s claimed to save about 2,400 tons of CO2 emissions a year. (CNN)
• Texas keeps rolling with stimulus spending as transportation commissioners approve another $1.2 billion in highway work. (Houston Chronicle)
• Rhode Island is ready to roll with it’s first batch of stimulus projects–including washing bird droppings off bridges. (Providence Journal)
• Washington State’s first project: $3 million in repaving work on a section of I-90. (Seattle PI)

Mar 5

• You’ve heard of Big Oil. Is Obama under the sway of “Big Smart Grid“? (Politico and Treehugger)
• High speed rail in Spain is faster than traveling by air. (NPR)
• In a debate involving discussion of fried bologna, Mississippi legislators voted to bypass the hardline GOP governor and take the state’s full share of stimulus funds. (AP)
• The first segment of California’s $45 billion high speed rail line will be link Bakersfield and Merced. Or maybe not. (LAT)
• In Albany, legislators are “scrambling” to spend all the loot–including some of NYC’s funds says Bloomberg. (NYT)
• A proposal for Detroit: use stimulus funds to tear down all those abandoned buildings. (Free Press)
• A bailout for lumberjacks? That’s one idea for stimulus funds in Montana. (AP)

March 4:

• Obama: “Shovels are hitting the ground” already — 60 projects are now underway. (CNN)
• States are using different strategies with regard to highways: Kansas is building fancy new ones, Maryland is focusing on repairs. (NYT)
• The president’s new budget treats transportation funding as general revenue (rather than its own special category) and that has many Senators fuming. (Grist)
• The future of cars? They’re driverless, obey “smart” traffic signals, and are as chatty as KITT. (PBS)
• In Vancouver, BC, they have managed to install a new subway line: (A) cheaply; (B) months ahead of schedule. Is anyone taking notes? (Seattle Transit Blog)
• Proposed bridge tolls could stem the “truck tsunami” in lower Manahattan. (Streets Blog)
• Meanwhile, uptown, Bono has a permanant address: remember W. 53rd Street? It’s “U2 Way” now. (Gawker)
• Has the decline in the quality of rock n’ rock caused US oil production to decline as well? (FT Energy Source)

March 3:

• California cities and farms warned that they might get cut off from some water sources if drought worsens. (Sac. Bee)
• Obama plans to swing by the Department of Transportation this morning to “tell workers… how the [stimulus] legislation will help build bridges [and] repair roads” (AP)
• The governor of Massachusetts wants to add a carbon tax to parking fees at Logan airport. (Boston Globe)
• Some gentle but spirited civil disobedience by Power Shifters in DC over the Capitol’s carbon footprint. (TreeHugger)
• Salt Lake City considering a new sales tax to pay for streetcars. (Salt Lake Trib via Overhead Wire)
• The world’s largest ship is under construction in Finland. (Popular Mechanics)
• Houston is number 3 among US cities with the most green buildings. NYC not on the list. (FWIW.) (Daily Green)

March 2:

• Tensions are rising between local and state governments over how stimulus funds are divvied up. (WSJ)
• Wisconson’s governor goes to Spain to scout out their high speed rail network as a potential model. (AP)
• Good thing they have a good rail network, as car sales in Japan just keep plunging — now down 35 percent. (INO)
• Stimulus funds to jumpstart grand new Moynihan Station in NYC? (NYT)
• Repairing 30-story windmills is green work, but it ain’t easy work — don’t ever try it with a hangover. (LAT)
• House of Reps says “Yeah, not so much” to that whole idea of becoming carbon neutral. (WaPo)
• On the other hand, there’s Jack Bauer who hearts the environment as much as he hates terrorists. (Translation: 24 goes carbon neutral.) (Foreign Policy)