- San Francisco Chronicle: Caltrans: Failed Bay Bridge rod was stripped, not broken
- San Francisco Chronicle: Bridge tolls broadside tourists who rent cars
- San Francisco Chronicle: State lawmakers pass bills combatting climate change
- Contra Costa Times: AC Transit seeks public ideas for new leader
- Napa Valley Register: San Francisco Bay Bridge steel to become public art
- San Francisco Examiner: Steel from old Bay Bridge to become art
POLITICO Morning Transportation for 6/4/2015
By JENNIFER SCHOLTES, with help from Heather Caygle
HOUSE POISED TO POLISH OFF THUD TODAY: Buzzing with action late into the night, the House plowed through debate on the THUD spending bill, lining up a slew of amendment votes for today. Since House leaders have promised lawmakers they’ll be heading back home to their districts no later than 3 p.m., the chamber is likely to tick through those roll call votes and on to final passage this afternoon.
Done deal: During last night’s debate-a-thon, the chamber agreed to several amendments by voice vote, including one by Rep. Michael Burgess to increase funding for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by $4 million, taking that money from salaries and expenses in DOT’s Office of the Secretary (the first place legislators go to grab cash when they need to plus up other accounts). The House also agreed to an amendment that would shift $3 million from FAA operations to the agency’s account for facilities and equipment, as well as an amendment that would increase funding for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration by $500,000.
Postponed votes: Amendments held over for roll call votes today include one by Rep. Tim Walberg that would bar DOT officials from lobbying state legislators on motorcycle safety, a proposal by Rep. Lois Capps to increase funding for the Pipeline Safety Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund by a whopping $27.6 million, and an amendment by Rep. Elizabeth Esty that would reduce FAA operations funding by $3 million and funnel that money to the Federal Railroad Administration’s safety and operations account.
Follow along on C-SPAN: http://www.c-span.org/.
DEM LEADERS TEST APPETITE FOR FILIBUSTERING TRUST FUND PATCH: Two months away from expiration of transportation policy and an effectively drained Highway Trust Fund, Democrats are scheming to withhold support for another patch if there isn’t big movement on a long-term plan. Burgess Everett and Heather Caygle explain that “unless Republicans can come up with tens of billions of dollars in new tax money or spending cuts, the GOP could be forced to acquiesce to Democratic demands or risk a shutdown of infrastructure projects in the middle of the summer construction season. Still, the strategy could also blow up in Democrats’ faces, as the GOP is sure to paint them as obstructionists, particularly if a shutdown comes to pass in July. … The goal, Democratic sources said, is to expose the GOP’s lack of planning ahead of the July deadline and pressure them to come up with as much as $90 billion for a six-year transportation bill, a near impossibility without politically painful tax increases.” More on the strategy Democrats are shopping around: http://politico.pro/1KFbRJH.
IT’S THURSDAY: Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Reach out: jscholtes@politico.com or @jascholtes.
“We’ll be flyin’ on the G-5.” http://bit.ly/1FuCuxd
THUNE FORECASTS SWIFT TSA CHIEF CONFIRMATION: Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune says his panel plans to approve President Barack Obama’s pick to run the TSA as soon as today, determined to seat a permanent leader at the helm of the agency under fire for failing to detect the vast majority of covert attempts to get fake bombs and weapons past airport checkpoints. The chairman said his panel received written responses from the nominee Tuesday evening and plans to move swiftly on approval. “It’ll get through the Senate. We’ll get somebody over there. But we’ve got to change the culture at the TSA,” Thune said during an MSNBC interview (http://on.msnbc.com/1KarL0m) on Wednesday. “These red tests that were done by the DHS inspector general’s office were very alarming and very disturbing. And all that does is invite our enemies to test us. … Was this a failure of some of the expensive equipment that they have? Was there a lack of training? Or was there just not appropriate oversight? We’ve got to get to the bottom of this.”
** A message from GAMA: Delivering new, safety-enhancing products into customers’ hands quickly is a top priority for GAMA members. That’s why we urge Congress to act soon to pass an FAA reauthorization bill that reforms the certification process for new products and technologies, and facilitates the flow of aviation products globally through strong FAA leadership. www.gama.aero **
MT SCOOP: COMMERCE TO HOLD PTC HEARING: Heather scored the scoop that Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune will convene a hearing on passenger rail safety next week in light of last month’s deadly Amtrak derailment. The witness list is still being finalized, but officials from the FRA, the FCC and Amtrak are all set to testify. A major focus of the hearing, set for next Wednesday, will be railroads’ ongoing challenges implementing the costly and complicated safety technology known as positive train control. Railroads have until the end of 2015 to implement PTC, but many are expected to miss that deadline.
Lawmakers are currently considering dueling proposals to extend the PTC deadline. Earlier this year the Commerce Committee approved a bipartisan bill — supported by Thune, Commerce ranking member Bill Nelson and several others — that would give railroads a blanket extension until 2020 to implement PTC. But a group of Democrats led by California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer have introduced an alternate proposal that would give railroads until 2018 to implement the safety system but only on a case-by-case basis in one-year increments.
DRUNK? THEN THE CAR WON’T DRIVE: Out on the plaza at DOT headquarters, lawmakers and agency officials will gather this morning to demo new technology the department is testing to prevent drunken driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety are partnering to research a system meant to automatically detect when drivers are drunk beyond the legal limit and prevent their cars from moving. The idea is that consumers will soon have the option to buy vehicles equipped with the technology and even get them programmed with a zero-tolerance threshold to prevent those under 21 from driving with alcohol in their systems. Check out the video on how the technology is designed to test only the breath of the driver, not passengers: http://bit.ly/1Jmu0Ph.
Attendees: Deputy Transportation Secretary Victor Mendez, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind, Sen. Tom Udall and Rep. Nita Lowey.
PHMSA CHIEF MAKES LEAP TO FAA: Now that President Barack Obama has put forth a nominee to run the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the agency’s fill-in administrator is heading off to be a senior adviser at the FAA, Elana Schor reports: http://politico.pro/1Q83bCr.
BIG TRUCKS AND BUSES GET NEW STABILITY CONTROL MANDATE: DOT this week wrapped up its new rules requiring heavy trucks and large buses to have electronic stability control systems that automatically maintain directional control when drivers can’t act quickly enough to prevent crashes. The NTSB began recommending the requirement for heavy-duty vehicles in 2011, and Congress directed the NHTSA in 2012 to consider the mandate for motorcoaches, which are covered under the new regulations. NHTSA estimates the new rule will prevent as many as 1,759 crashes, 649 injuries and 49 deaths annually. Trucks and buses heavier than 33,000 pounds will have to comply within three years, and those that weigh between 26,000 and 33,000 pounds will have to comply within four years. More from NHTSA: http://1.usa.gov/1cxOPIV. The rule: http://politico.pro/1RK3cd9.
AIRPLANE EMISSIONS RULES COULD BE A STRUGGLE: Likely on the verge of announcing that airplane pollution threatens public health, the EPA could soon try to regulate the aviation industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. But the effort probably won’t be as easy as the agency’s moves to do the same for vehicle and power plant emissions. Pro’s Alex Guillén reports: “The airline industry’s international status makes tackling solely the U.S. portion of the emissions difficult. The European Union has instituted its own airline emissions trading scheme, but criticism from U.S. carriers prompted Congress in 2012 to ensure that U.S. flights would not have to comply. Meanwhile, an international effort is underway to tackle global airplane emissions via the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency.” And some say it’s unlikely the EPA would craft different rules than ICAO. More from Pro: http://politico.pro/1Ier5Fh.
NEW SENATE BILL PROPOSES JETSONIAN TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT: Sens. Roy Blunt and Gary Peters introduced a bill this week that would let states use existing federal transportation funds for investment in technology that can send wireless signals between vehicles and transportation infrastructure, enabling monitors to send warning signals to cars approaching icy bridges or about stopped traffic ahead. “Vehicle-to-infrastructure wireless technology enables vehicles to communicate with each other and the world around them, helping to improve safety, prevent car accidents, and relieve traffic,” Blunt said in a written statement Wednesday.
WIKILEAKS SPILLS TRADE DOCS ON AIR AND MARITIME TRANSPORT: Within the trove of trade treaty documents WikiLeaks released on Wednesday are annexes on air and maritime transportation service agreements being worked out between the 24 parties negotiating the Trade in Service Agreement. Pro’s Adam Behsudi has more: http://politico.pro/1AL1AeX.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
— Why carmakers want people (not robots) to drive. Bloomberg View: http://bv.ms/1HLiF5v
— Op-ed: The airport security sieve. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1Q8pckq
— Uber’s business model under fire. The Hill: http://bit.ly/1QpXzOw
— FAA urges industry consensus on air-traffic revamp. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1IeYO1b
— China keeps lid on information, as hopes dim in Yangtze ship disaster. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1QrnzZR
— Flight attendant who denied soda can to Muslim will no longer serve United customers. LA Times: http://lat.ms/1FvN6Lm
— How deregulation saved the freight rail industry. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1BLint5
— Google founder defends accident records of self-driving cars. AP: http://abcn.ws/1FVbfOL
— Airport security: astoundingly expensive and 95 percent ineffective. CityLab: http://bit.ly/1FVbzgy
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 58 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 119 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 525 days.
Tags: policy, transportation
