Infrastructure

The Transportation Department on Thursday released $2 billion in aid for Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts, four months after the storm ravaged transit systems along the Atlantic Coast.

At the same time, the agency is moving to cement new regulations governing how it would implement relief efforts in the aftermath of future disasters.  

Your morning transportation speed-read: 

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Increases in taxes paid on gasoline purchases could be included in a broader tax reform deal, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said Tuesday.

Asked specifically about an increase in the tax on gasoline that is paid by ocean barge operators, Shuster said it is difficult to get any fuel tax through Congress by itself.

But he said it could be possible in a broader package.

“In the times we live, it’s very difficult…to move something like that generally,” Shuster said in an appearance before the Arlington, Va.-based Waterways Council.

“That being said, we in the House are going to do tax reform,” he continued. “When you do a big grand package of tax reform, there may be opportunities to do that. Standing on the rooftops saying you want to increase the gas tax…is not the most effective way to do that.”

The budget unveiled Tuesday by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would slash transportation spending in an effort to as part of an effort to cut federal spending by $5.7 trillion.

The plan from Ryan, who is the chairman of the House Budget Committee, is intended to balance the federal budget by the year 2023.

The Ryan budget will serve as the House GOP's answer to President Obama's spending proposals, which are expected to be released later this year.

But whereas Obama has called repeatedly for increasing transportation, Ryan said that the DOT was rife with possibilities for cutting spending.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will work this week to finalize its list of air traffic control towers that will be closed because of the sequestration budget cuts.

The FAA has revealed a list of 173 towers to be closed next month to meet its obligation to reduce its 2013 spending by about 9 percent.

But lawmakers have already began pushing back on closing flight towers in their districts.

"We write to express our deep concern about the slated closure of the air traffic control tower at Tweed-New Haven along with 5 additional general aviation control towers throughout the State of Connecticut," Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, all Democrats, wrote in a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta last week.

Senate Democrats are criticizing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for reducing the amount of money Congress spends on transportation projects in the bill that would avert a shutdown of the federal government.

The lawmakers said the House’s proposal for a continuing resolution of spending for rest of the 2013 fiscal year includes less funding for road and transit projects than the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) surface transportation bill allocated.

“As chairs of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, we write to express our strong disappointment that the full-year continuing resolution for fiscal year (FY) 2013 being considered in the House of Representatives this week continues to disregard the funding levels negotiated in the 112th Congress in the surface transportation bill,” Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Tim Johnson (D–S.D.) wrote to Boehner.

HOUSTON – A senior Exxon official said the oil industry sees rail cars as a viable option to move growing amounts of Canadian oil sands to market, but he called development of multiple new pipelines the preferred option.

“When we look at long-term forecasts of oil sands growth, we believe that all of these pipelines will be needed over time to support the oil sands,” said Bruce March, an Exxon vice president, noting multiple proposals to build pipelines to the U.S. and other markets.

“The fact is that pipelines remain safest and most reliable way to transport crude oil and petroleum products,” said March, the former CEO of Exxon’s Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil.

But March, speaking at the IHS CERAWeek energy conference here, said that while the industry wants pipelines, railroads are a viable option to handle growing production.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood derided the looming sequestration cuts as a "dumb idea" that "will not work" and said they would undermine the nation's transportation system.

LaHood made the remarks in a speech to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), which released his remarks on Thursday.

"Sequester is a dumb idea," LaHood said to the group. "It's a meat-axe approach. It will not work in us reaching our goals to improve America's transportation." 

At the end of his approximately 18-minute speech, LaHood urged the group to lobby lawmakers to reach a last-minute agreement to avert the $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts that are scheduled to take effect on Friday.