Today’s news brings great hope that the leak in the Gulf of Mexico is finally capped. But we still haven’t addressed the root cause behind the spill – the fact that our transportation system consumes 70% of the oil we use, driving us to riskier measures to obtain more oil. Will we respond to the crisis in the Gulf by starting to free ourselves from oil and finding ways to use less? Or will we resign ourselves to continued dependency and the inevitable risk of future oil spills resulting from that dependency?

enator Thomas Carper (D-DE) joined business leaders and Transportation for America, the largest, most diverse coalition working on transportation reform, to support key provisions of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act (APA) that creates a new funding stream for investments in clean transportation options that will create jobs and reduce our dangerous dependence on oil.

Exciting news: The climate and clean energy legislation unveiled in the Senate today puts a strong emphasis on planning for and investing in clean transportation options. We applaud the authors of The American Power Act, John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, for advancing this critical piece of legislation that invests in our transportation infrastructure while delivering a win both for energy independence and climate protection. Call your Senator today in support.

The long-awaited allocations in the Senate climate bill were released over the weekend, and the news is good for increasing access to cleaner transportation options. Late Friday evening, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee released the final numbers on where the revenues raised under a cap-and-trade climate bill would be directed. The Senate nearly triples the funding for clean, sustainable transportation over the House climate bill, which only set aside an optional one percent of funding. Take a minute and thank your Senator today.

With the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee expected to release their version of the climate bill tomorrow, we’re all anxiously waiting to see what the bill will do to reduce emissions from transportation. The U.S. transportation sector produces one-third of our carbon emissions, yet the House’s version of the climate bill allocated only an optional one percent of cap-and-trade revenues to cleaner transportation options that can help us cut transportation emissions. Will the Senate bill be better? We think so, but the Reason Foundation, a free-market think tank, wrote that it should be if we’re going to seriously tackle transportation emissions.

In the aftermath of Washington DC’s Metro crash, Time magazine looks America’s aging transit systems. Members of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee argue against looking at immediate transportation reform. (Streetsblog) House Rep. Edward Markey sees the climate bill getting signed before 2010. (National Journal) Driving numbers could be low again for the summer [...]

We’ve talked to you before about the climate legislation currently being debated in Congress, and the efforts of Congresswoman Doris Matsui of California to include a specific provision that would align infrastructure and land use planning with greenhouse gas reduction goals to preserve resources and fight climate change. In recent marathon sessions — that’s right, [...]