Transportation For America » Breaking Down the Blueprint: Climate Stability and Environmental Protection

Breaking Down the Blueprint: Climate Stability and Environmental Protection

May 27, 2009
By Andrew Bielak

NTO Objective Series Climate Graphic
We continue our series on the Transportation for America Blueprint this week with a look at the second of six core objectives we believe Congress must embrace in the next transportation bill — environmental protection, climate stability, and environmental justice.

As we’ve discussed here before, our Blueprint has six overarching national objectives, which we believe should provide a vision for the future and a guide for our federal transportation policy. One of the biggest criticisms leveled at our country’s transportation spending is that there are no clear goals for what the money should accomplish. Therefore, T4 America is looking to define a clear purpose for our system — and these six objectives are like the rudder to steer the ship.

To ensure that we can meet these objectives and measure our progress, we created 10 performance targets — clear, quantifiable goals for the next 20 years that are tied directly to the six national objectives. (You can see the two that most directly link in with this objective at the top of this post.)

Our country needs a transportation system that keeps our air clean, helps us fight climate change, and protects all Americans — no matter who they are or where they live — from dangerous environmental pollution. Unfortunately, our existing policies — which subsidize sprawling development and foster dependence on automobiles — have made protecting our environment and our communities an increasingly challenging task.

Thirty percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States comes from transportation, which produces more CO2 than any other country’s entire economy, save China. And while policymakers in Congress have mandated increased fuel efficiency for automakers in order to help reduce emissions, the sheer growth in the number of miles Americans drive — and lack of other viable transportation options — threatens to overwhelm these benefits.

As we described in our previous post on public health and safety, pollution from automobiles and other sources can have devastating effects on people’s health, particularly in the poorer or impoverished communities that often bear the brunt of these negative impacts.

In order to guide our transportation program and help create a safer, cleaner, and healthier system, Transportation for America believes in that we should strive to meet these two performance measures:

Reduce transportation-generated carbon dioxide levels by 40%.
Achieve zero percent exposure to at-risk levels of air pollution.

To achieve these goals, we’re going to need some real reforms, direct accountability, and a strong commitment to a 21st transportation system. This commitment must include the construction of the second half of our transportation network — including public transportation, bike and pedestrians paths, and high-speed rail — a stronger linkage between transportation and land use policies, and repairs and maintenance on our existing infrastructure to help Americans save time, money and fuel. Investing in the transportation systems that emit less pollution while moving people more efficiently will help us reach these ambitious targets.

To get a better idea of how we plan to enact these reforms, check back later this week when we dive into the specific policies and proposals that T4 America is supporting — and see how an improved transportation system can protect our environment, fight climate change, and foster healthy, clean, pollution-free communities.

Filed under: Campaign Blog
Tags: blueprint, Blueprint breakdown, carbon emissions, climate change, climate protection, environment, environmental justice, featured

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James Newberry

Is there any interest in exploring the possibility of design of an Autonomous Streetcar that would not require a catenary system? It might be feasible to synergistically combine electric drive components on-board so municipal light rail system implementation would be simplified.
Jennifer Miller

I am interested in finding alternative ways in which our road, which is do to be widened for commuters, can be used but keep the noise and pollution away from our homes. We are now at great risk of additional pollution in our rural area in which we live in. I am interested finding a way in which our road could be turned in to a bicycle thoroughfare. It is currently used a large number of bike enthusiast.