Several hundred people gathered in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday (November 17, 2009) to hear ideas and thoughts on the federal level transportation policy reform.
U.S. Senator Thomas Carper (D-Del) started out the forum hosted by the National Journal with an engaging, humerous and telling commentary on the state of climate change legislation and the role of transportation. Carper introduced legislation in march that would boost Green techology as a way to address climate change through transportation policy reform (the Clean, Low-Emission, Affordable New Transportation Efficiency Act, or CLEAN-TEA). A brief report and video can be found on the National Journal’s web site. Carper holds out little hope for climate change legislation passing during this Congress or serious transportation policy reform moving forward before the other big three domestic policy issues are settled (the economy, health care, and climate change).
Other participants in the exchange included Jeff Corless (Transportation for America), Jack Schenendorf (National Surface Transportation Polcy and Revenue Study Commission), Polly Trottenberg (Asst Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Dept of Transportation), Deron Lovaas (federal policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council), and Sam Staley (Reason Foundation).