Streesblog USA: 3,000 out of 3,001 Americans Want to Decarbonize Transportation — But Will the GOP Do It?

"By a roughly 3,000-to-1 ratio as the public comment period ended on a key Biden administration climate initiative, Americans agree that states should be required to better track their transportation-sector greenhouse gas emissions to lead to reducing them, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The trick is how you get there. The Biden administration wants to establish a national framework for tracking state-by-state progress on greenhouse gas emissions by adding a new “performance management measure” to the existing national performance measures so states can better track their success. The White House said their rule would still allow state DOTs to “set their own declining targets for on-road greenhouse gas emissions.”

And a uniform way to track state performance is key, says the Georgetown Climate Center.

“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act could be an important part of the U.S. response to climate change,” the experts said in a brief. “Or it could lead to more greenhouse gas pollution than the trajectory we are currently on. Where the actual outcome falls within that range will depend on the decisions made by state, federal, regional, and local governments about how to spend the money made available by IIJA.”

[...]

"The wave of support for this rule is a clear sign,” said Beth Osborne, director of Transportation and Thriving Communities at Smart Growth America, referring to the 3000-to-1 public comment straw poll. “States and local communities want to make a positive impact on transportation emissions, and taxpayers want to see the results of their investments.”

[...]

"The public comment period ended on Oct. 13 with more than 100,000 comments, with only a few hundred in opposition, said Patrick Wojahn of the Rails to Trails Conservancy, which was tracking the comments."

Read the full article by Gersh Kuntsman in Streetsblog USA.