Automobiles

Sens. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) are reviving their campaign against a Michigan company’s bid for an Energy Department loan to support manufacture of high-strength automotive steel.

The Department of Energy (DOE) in January nixed a planned $730 million loan for Severstal Dearborn LLC — a subsidiary of Russian steel giant OAO Severstal — to retool and expand facilities in Dearborn, Mich.

But the company has reportedly reapplied for a smaller, $320 million loan. Coats and Toomey, whose states are home to some of Severstal’s competitors, say in a new letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu that DOE should reject this proposal too.

“In the case of Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS), abundant evidence shows that several U.S. companies already manufacture comparable grades for which Severstal is seeking this loan award. These companies built their facilities using private funds,” the senators wrote in the June 26 letter to Chu.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Red cars are more likely to be on the receiving end of bird droppings, according to a new study.

Wisconsin has been reimbursed by the federal government for money it spent on a high-speed railway it later canceled.

Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport is celebrating the opening of a $2.4 billion new terminal.

Atlanta residents are debating whether their city should have a second airport, and where it should be built.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Public transportation advocates recently celebrated Dump the Pump Day 2012.

An airport in Bangor, Maine, has received 647 diverted flights since 2005.

Contractors are working on a so-called airport "checkpoint of the future."

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has backed away from a plan to circumvent environmental reviews for a controversial high-speed railway in his state.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Transportation Security Administration says a passenger at Newark, N.J.'s Liberty International Airport had tear gas in his socks.

Southwest Airlines has apologized to a passenger for asking her to cover her cleavage.

The quality of cars in the United States is at all-time high, according to a new survey.

New rail cars ordered by Washington, D.C.'s MetroRail will not be ready in time for the opening of its new Silver Line.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A designer is working on a more slender food cart for airplanes.

An Alaskan airline is no longer offering free beer on its flights.

Peer-to-peer car rental services are increasing in popularity.

New York City’s Gray Line tourist buses have gone pink to support breast cancer research.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Passengers are more satisfied with airlines, according to a new survey.

Unions for employees of American Airlines are advocating for a proposed merger with U.S. Airways as the best way for the airline to emerge from bankruptcy.

Taxi drivers at Oakland International Airport are on strike.

Disney’s Cars Land in California has drawn big crowds in its first couple of days of operation.

Falling energy prices mean it will cost a little less to lobby on energy in the Beltway.

The District of Columbia Taxicab Commission announced Friday that the $1 per trip surcharge imposed almost 16 months ago will expire at midnight Wednesday, making it a tad cheaper for lobbyists of all stripes to zip around to meetings.

The fee was imposed in early March 2011 when the average regular gasoline price in the Capital was $3.45 a gallon. It was extended three times thereafter, including on March 6 of this year, when the average cost was $3.85 per gallon, the commission said.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Former Minnesota Gov. and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura (I) says he does not fly anymore because of the Transportation Security Administration.

A Ku Klux Klan group in Georgia could sue over the state's rejection of its "Adopt-a-Highway" application.

Opponents of a controversial proposed high-speed railway in California are arguing in a lawsuit that the trains will not go fast enough to be considered high-speed.

A group of Japanese and Chinese investors has agreed to buy Swedish automaker Saab.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) took the U.S. rental car industry to task Tuesday for declining to take her pledge not to rent cars that have been recalled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Boxer has been pressuring the largest car rental companies to volunteer to abide by the rules of a bill she and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are planning to introduce that would require them to pull recalled cars from their fleets.

Boxer said Tuesday that only one rental company, Hertz, had agreed to abide by the requirement before it becomes law. She vowed to continue pressing Enterprise, Avis and Dollar Thrifty to do so as well.

"If you go out on the street and ask the average person if they thought this was already a law, they would say 'absolutely,' because they know we do a lot here to ensure car safety. This is a huge loophole," Boxer said in a press conference at the Capitol Tuesday. 

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will reveal on Tuesday which rental car companies have taken her up on her call for them to pledge not to rent cars that have been recalled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because of safety concerns.

Boxer said last month that she wanted the largest car rental companies to volunteer to abide by the rules of a bill she has introduced to require car companies to pull recalled cars from their fleets before it becomes law.

She said Monday that she would unveil the results of her requests to U.S. rental car companies Hertz, Enterprise, Avis and Dollar Thrifty during a press conference at the Capitol Tuesday at 11 a.m.