Word: oberstar
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...Another factor driving the calls for a second stimulus is that nearly 90% of the original stimulus money targeted for infrastructure projects will have been spent by May, and the Highway Trust Fund could be running a shortfall in June, says House Transportation Committee chairman James Oberstar. "[It] means, unless we do something about it, we'll start losing jobs instead of creating jobs in the construction sector," he says. For that reason, one part of a proposed jobs bill would subsidize 30 states that are unlikely to meet their annual highway commitments next year and would...
Traditionally there has been an imbalance at the heart of transportation funding: highways get billions, and public transit gets the scraps. But that may change. This week Minnesota Representative Jim Oberstar - the Democrat who runs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee - unveiled his $500 billion, six-year draft bill to overhaul the nation's transportation system. Though the bill is still nebulous, analysts say it's a considerably more transit-friendly bill than Congress has produced in the past, pouring $100 billion into public transit. New transportation bills are authorized only once every six years, and there's a real...
...problem is that it's not clear how Oberstar's draft bill, which transit advocates argue still needs to be strengthened, will be fully funded, and the Obama Administration has urged a more modest bill in the short term. It's clear, however, that if the nation has any real interest in reducing driving, unclogging our roads and cutting back on the carbon emissions that come from transportation, we need to get serious about overhauling our antiquated public-transit system - and that will cost billions. "Failing to fix this will be unacceptable," says Goldberg...
...part of the infrastructure push, Obama has asked for at least $2.5 billion to help transform federally owned civilian spaces - some 367 million sq. ft. that generate a $5 million annual electric bill - into green buildings. The subject is close to Oberstar's heart; he's been trying to get a photovoltaic roof installed atop the Energy Department since 1977. "We could cut that electricity bill 40% with photovoltaic facilities," he says. There are also funds for green transit, like buses that run on natural and propane gases, hybrid systems or batteries, and money to build a more efficient system...
...seems there is virtually no area of transportation that Oberstar isn't intimately familiar with. An avid outdoor biker who speaks fluently the language of his beloved Tour de France, Oberstar had spent a frustrating morning before our interview trying to replace the chain engine on his stationary bike - for the second time. The first burned out after 5,000 miles; the second only made it to 3,000. His conclusion is typically pragmatic: "It's time I just get a new bike...