NewsTrust - Transportation - Most Recent Stories: Opinion

Chamber of Commerce Urges Lawmakers to Raise the Gas Tax

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Alec MacGillis - Jul. 15 (Opinion) - On the same day as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was attacking President Obama and congressional Democrats over a tax-hiking plan to pay for health care reform, its leader urged the same people to have the courage to raise taxes on another front: the federal gasoline levy that pays for our highways

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Car Crazy

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - May. 28 (Editorial) - At the end of his Rose Garden explanation yesterday of the new U.S. fuel-efficiency standards, President Obama remarked on the good that can be accomplished when we are "working together." The President may be getting ahead of himself. Watching the unlikely coalition arrayed behind him as Mr. Obama committed the U.S. to an astonishing passenger-car mileage average of 39 miles per gallon by 2016, it looks truer to say we are merely standing together in this adventure, for better or worse. Mr. Obama's fleet-mileage partners yesterday included the two auto companies that have fallen into his arms, Chrysler and GM, still-independent Ford, the major foreign manufacturers, United Auto Workers chief Ron Gettelfinger, and beaming representatives from the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists. All that's left to arrive at the President's new destination for the American way of driving are huge, unanswered questions about technology, financing and the marketability of cars that will be small and expensive.

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California's proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - Apr. 20 (Editorial) - The goal of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard is to lower the "carbon intensity" of fuels sold in California 10% by 2020. It does this by using complexformulas to score each type of fuel based on its life-cycle emissions; carbon intensity is calculated by comparing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by a fuel over its life cycle with the amount of energy it produces. Starting in 2011, companies that sell fuel in California will have to lower the overall carbon intensity of their various fuels at a rate that will increase every year until 2020, or else buy credits from companies that sell cleaner fuels.

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Should Free-Wheeling be Free? One Oregon Lawmaker Says No.

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

triplepundit.com - Apr. 10 (Opinion) - Oregonians love their bikes—and for good reason. Portland and Eugene are among the most progressive cities in the nation when it comes to biking infrastructure (bike lanes, bike racks, etc.). But Oregon representative Wayne Krieger has introduced a bill that would mean this infrastructure would no longer be freely available to two-wheeling citizens. They'd have to pay to ride.

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Detroit: Can Obama's Auto Bailout Work?

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By John Gross - Apr. 01 (Opinion) - Obama also used the B-word, bankruptcy, which would be particularly disastrous for Cerberus. Under any circumstances, it seems, many of the Wall Streeters who celebrated Obama's toxic-assets plan won't profit from his auto bailout.

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Detroit Dissonance

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Eugene Robinson - Mar. 31 (Opinion) - Through a series of logical decisions, the Obama administration has maneuvered itself into an illogical and uncomfortable place. The president is telling Detroit to shape up or die while at the same time politely asking Wall Street, whose recklessness and greed caused this economic crisis, if it would be so kind as to accept another heaping helping of taxpayer funds.

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6 Cars That Signal the Future of Driving

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

U.S. News & World Report - By Rick Newman - Mar. 23 (Opinion) - So, for the next decade or so, there will be a worldwide energy derby as the backers of half a dozen plausible fuel systems battle one another for prominence under the hood. But vehicle design and infrastructure needs will eventually coalesce around one or two winners to take advantage of high-volume production, which is essential to lowering costs.

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A conversation with Rep. Krieger about his bike registration bill

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

bikeportland.org - By Jonathan Maus - Mar. 06 (Interview) - Representative Wayne Krieger (R-Gold Beach) wants everyone who owns a bicycle in the state of Oregon to pay a mandatory, $54 registration fee (and then renew it for another $54 every two years). He is the chief architect of House Bill 3008, a proposal that was met with a lot of negative responses on this site when I reported on it today.

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School politics

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Boston Phoenix - Feb. 06 (Editorial) - Educating the next generation of children is about nothing if not the future. Families project their hopes and dreams for a better life onto their kids. And though Boston has become a city where the poor and the working class — many of them immigrants — outnumber the affluent and the middle class, it is white-collar aspirations rather than blue-collar realities that animate school concerns.

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A Republican Worth Listening To

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Think Progress - By Matthew Yglesias - Jan. 29 (Comment) - Rather than endless coffee sessions with John Boehner, maybe the White House should pay more attention to this guy:

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The Net-Zero Gas Tax

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Weekly Standard - By Charles Krauthammer - Dec. 29 (Opinion) - Today's economic climate of financial instability and deepening recession, moreover, makes the piling on of new taxes--gasoline or otherwise--not just politically unpalatable but economically dubious

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The Senate GOP Seems Set on Hastening the Death of Detroit

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Eugene Robinson - Dec. 15 (Opinion) - It may be that General Motors, Chrysler and Ford are lumbering, Jurassic beasts that deserve their looming extinction. But only a free-market fundamentalist, a lunatic or a Senate Republican -- perhaps that's redundant -- would conclude that now is the moment to hasten Detroit's demise. To recap: We're in the midst of a global financial crisis. The housing bubble has burst and prices have collapsed. The economy has been in recession for a year. Unemployment has risen to 6.7 percent, and if "marginally attached" workers are included -- those who have given up even looking for jobs -- along with those who want to work full time but are forced to accept fewer hours, the rate is 12.5 percent.

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Chapter 11 is the right road for US carmakers

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Financial Times - By Joseph Stiglitz - Dec. 13 (Opinion) - The debate about whether or not to bail out the Big Three carmakers has been mischaracterised. It has been described as a package to help the undeserving dinosaurs of Detroit. In fact, a plan to bail out the carmakers would benefit shareholders and bondholders as much as anybody else. These are not the people that need help right now. In fact they contributed to the problem.

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The Big Three's real union problem

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Jonathan Cutler - Dec. 06 (Opinion) - Even if a deal for a $15-billion to $17-billion preliminary bailout comes together this weekend to keep carmakers afloat into 2009, they will continue to be dogged by their most significant competitive disadvantage: a high-priced, unionized workforce.

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How national healthcare could have saved Detroit

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Andrew Leonard - Dec. 04 (Opinion) - Any bailout, restructuring or government-overseen bankruptcy should be accompanied by comprehensive healthcare reform for all workers, along with substantial improvements in the safety net such as wage insurance, extended unemployment benefits, training and education subsidies.

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Saving the Big 3 for You and Me

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Michael Moore - Dec. 03 (Opinion) - Congress must save the industrial infrastructure that these companies control and the jobs they create. And it must save the world from the internal combustion engine. This great, vast manufacturing network can redeem itself by building mass transit and electric/hybrid cars, and the kind of transportation we need for the 21st century. And Congress must do all this by NOT giving GM, Ford and Chrysler the $34 billion they are asking for in "loans" (a few days ago they only wanted $25 billion; that's how stupid they are -- they don't even know how much they really need to make this month's payroll. If you or I tried to get a loan from the bank this way, not only would we be thrown out on our ear, the bank would place us on some sort of credit rating blacklist).

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Depression-era projects, again

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Bill Boyarsky - Nov. 25 (Opinion) - The Depression projects were built in a hurry, driven by economic need. Will the new crop also be put on a fast track?

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The global economy and Detroit

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Andrew Leonard - Nov. 18 (Opinion) - ...what I find most disturbing about September's numbers -- and remember, October is when the wheels really started to fall off the global economic bus -- is the suggestion that we are still only at the beginning of what could be a major unraveling of global trade flows. The obvious implication is that stresses on the U.S. economy will continue to grow worse.

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Living Without a Car: My New American Responsibility

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New America Media - By Garth Schmalenberg - Nov. 18 (Comment) - The premise that living without a car is good for the environment may be a fallicy. I was recently reading an article in one of the Toronto newspapers suggesting that CO2 emissions and energy consumption on Buses, subways and LRT trains were on average higher per person mile than for the average car and much higher than cars like the Prius. The reason was that far too often buses and trains run with far too few passengers claiming that only cities like New York have a passenger density consistantly high enough to make public transit more efficient. I'm not an expert on the topic of emissions or energy consumption so have no way to verify this assertion. However, the fact that it is even a possibility does give rise to the need to investigate our assumptions more carefully. It's true that if we live in a very densely populated area with good transit that giving up our cars for public transit might increase density of ridership. But it may also have people wanting more bus services in lower density areas to feed the main system which would then defeat the whole purpose. Even if the bus is more efficient when adding one person, there is still an extra load and if every person ends up travelling 50% farther to accomodate a bus route that is less direct to our destination, or ends up somewhere on a bus with only a few people, have we really solved the problem? Maybe there are better solutions. Wouldn't smaller electric vehicles running off a solar or wind powered grid make more sense than giving up personal mobility and travelling 2 hrs by public transit vs. 1/2 hour by car? Or perhaps an organized car-pooling system supported by a voluntary wireless opt-in system which would a)allow us to signal any time we have an up-coming trip to other users who live along our path and who are going to similar destinations at similar times. b) calculate a fair sharing fee c) allow those users to signial us back that they would like a pick-up d) have the routes and times calculated and route directions sent to us. e) Have the system worked out with insurance companies to encourage rather than discourage car-pooling. Just a thought.

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How to Fix a Flat

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Thomas L. Friedman - Nov. 12 (Opinion) - Indeed, if and when they do have to bury Detroit, I hope that all the current and past representatives and senators from Michigan have to serve as pallbearers. And no one has earned the “honor” of chief pallbearer more than the Michigan Representative John Dingell, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who is more responsible for protecting Detroit to death than any single legislator.

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Junk the Automakers' Bailout

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

National Review - Oct. 31 (Editorial) - That $700 billion rescue package for the banks is in danger of turning from a safety net into a slush fund. The scent of money has attracted lobbyists for every interest group in Washington. Now comes word that Treasury secretary Henry Paulson might dip into the fund to bail out struggling automakers GM and Chrysler. If car companies can qualify for a piece of that $700 billion, then there are no theoretical constraints on its use.

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New McCain Economic Plan: More Gas Guzzlers

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Josh Dorner - Sep. 19 (Opinion) - The ad says "more offshore drilling to lower gas prices to spur truck sales." Too bad his plan won't do a thing to lower gas prices or solve Detroit's long-term problems.

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Ride, baby, ride - Expanded transit can lead to energy independence

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By John Rynn - Sep. 12 (Opinion) - Meanwhile, back in the real world, transit usage has been skyrocketing, and Andy Darrell of Environmental Defense Fund presented testimony to the Senate [PDF] about the ability of public transit to cut our dependence on foreign oil:

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How to Save Detroit And $50 Billion

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Opinion Journal (WSJ) - By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. - Sep. 10 (Opinion) - CAFE has to be the most perverse exercise in product regulation in industrial history. It confronted the Big Three with the choice only of whether to lose a lot of money, by matching Toyota and Honda on quality and features; or somewhat less money, by scrimping on quality and features and discounting, discounting, discounting. Rationally, they scrimped -- and still live under a reputational cloud in the eyes of sedan buyers. Yet notice that their profitable product lines, in which they invest to be truly competitive -- such as SUVs, pickups and minivans -- hold their own against the Japanese and command real loyalty among U.S. consumers.

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Ford Testing Shows Eco-Driving Improved Fuel Economy an Average 24%

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Green Car Congress - Aug. 27 (Opinion) - Tests performed by Ford Motor Company and Pro Formance drivers found that 48 motorists coached by eco-driving experts saw results ranging from 6% fuel economy improvement to more than 50%, depending on their driving style and ability to master eco-driving behaviors. The average fuel economy improvement was 24%.

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