MTR 154, Mobilizing the Nation

Mobilizing the Region
Issue 154 December 12, 1997

Mobilizing the Nation

Word from Washington says the Senate will return to the task of a multi-year reauthorization of ISTEA during the first week of February. Floor fights are expected over funding levels and amendments that attack environmental protections and funding sources. The House may take ISTEA up in March.

U.S. energy and other corporations framed much of their public campaign against the global warming treaty under negotiation this week in Japan in terms of developing countries being let off the hook with later deadlines for capping or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But some of them were talking out the other side of their mouths at the same time. The Wall St. Journal reported in October that Exxon, the world's biggest oil company, had urged developing countries to reject the global warming treaty to be negotiated in Kyoto next month, because environmental controls would hinder their development. Speaking at the 15th World Petroleum Congress in Beijing, Exxon chairman Lee Raymond urged developing countries to use more, not less fossil fuels, and said nature was to blame for most global warming. Corporations and the environmental movement will now square off over U.S. Senate ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, which requires the U.S. to reduce greenhouse emissions 7% below 1990 levels early in the next century.

The Federal Highway Administration recently withdrew its appeal of a U.S. District Court ruling that the environmental impact statement for construction of a new Illinois toll highway was deficient. Central to the 1996 ruling was the finding that the EIS, in analyzing need for the road and alternatives, should have estimated the additional population, employment and traffic that the new tollroad would cause -- an important legal precendent concerning induced traffic and sprawl. FHWA, the Illinois DOT and the Illinois Toll Highway Authority had all appealed the decision, but FHWA has, in recent months, signaled to the U.S. Seventh Circuit that it was ambivalent about pursuing its appeal, apparently because it feared the precedential impact of a Seventh Circuit decision affirming the district court ruling. Plaintiffs in the case have filed a motion to dismiss the remaining state agency appeals.

The Amtrak authorization passed in November provides $2.3 billion of much-needed capital support for the national passenger railroad. However, Amtrak had stated early on in its quest for capital funding that it required $3.75 billion to attain its Congressional mandate of self-sufficiency by 2002. The authorizing legislation itself now poses the question: "How will Amtrak get the remaining $1.4 billion?" As the railroad seeks answers, look for it to invest where it will get the biggest bang for the buck in its operating budget. That likely means good news for the Boston-New York high speed rail project, which has strong potential to attract new riders.

Meanwhile, Amtrak president Tom Downs quit abruptly last week. The Washington Post said the Amtrak board pushed Downs out over dissatisfaction with the conduct of labor negotiations this fall. The board itself will be dissolved early in 1998 under the authorization agreement, which gives Congress a role in the formation of a new board. For info, National Assn of Railroad Passengers, 202-408-8362.