1-27-09 by dugan
Now we know global warming will stick around for 1,000 years, and every extra pound of carbon emitted will make things worse. That report from scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration should make it a top priority to cut emissions. So what do we get instead? A report in the L.A. Times that across the nation, public transit agencies are on the chopping block and likely to cut service, even as more people are giving up their car commutes to take the bus or train.
Cities have been ahead of the curve in cutting emissions from their buses, if not their trains, but every person out of a car and into convenient mass transit means reduced greenhouse emissions, less petroleum used and less overall pollution. Jam-packed and infrequent buses and trains will force them back into cars.
Yet in a bit of completely bass-ackwards politics, public transit subsidies in federal stimulus package have been slashed to make room for more… Tax Cuts!
From Gristmill:
"When the House rolled out its stimulus plan on Thursday, the set-aside for mass transit had fallen significantly from the proposal outlined last week by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair James Oberstar (D-Minn.).
"Oberstar had called for $30 billion for roads and bridges and $17
billion for mass transit, which would give mass transit 36 percent of
all the transportation funding in the stimulus package. But in the plan
unveiled yesterday, while the road money stayed the same, the public
transit portion was reduced by 25 percent, which includes cutting
operation assistance funds entirely. As for intercity rail, for which
Oberstar wanted $5 billion, its funding was reduced to $1.1 billion —
a 78 percent cut."
Why should roads come so far ahead of mass transit, just as government is pledging steep cuts in petroleum consumption?
The elimination of all operational funding assistance is what may cripple the resurgence of urban mass transit, just when it’s most needed to fulfill a "cleaner and cheaper" future. Cities and some states, even if they have bond money to build transit, can’t keep it running if they have slash operational spending.
TPM quotes Oberstar:
The reason for the reduction in overall funding… was the tax cut initiative
that had to be paid for in some way by keeping the entire package in
the range of $850 billion.
Once transit scales back it will be expensive to grow again, and hard to get the dollars even in a recovering economy. Senate leaders have talked about restoring more transit money to the stimulus bill. Here’s hoping.