How do you do a transportation climate change emergency?
UPDATE: OK, so Joe Manchin fooled us and DID let the Senate pass a climate bill. Good news, bad news. The good news is that we have a climate bill -- with lots of support for decarbonizing the transportation system. Bad news: there is nothing in the bill to slow down highway expansion -- which I had suggested as an emergency action -- and little to move us toward more sustainable land use. More work to be done.
How about freezing federal dollars for highway expansion!
Now that Joe Manchin has killed any hope of climate change legislation in the US Senate, attention has turned to what President Biden could accomplish by declaring a climate change emergency. There has been some public discussion about actions that could be taken by executive action to hasten the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, but I haven’t seen much about what could be done in the transportation space.
So here’s my top suggestion: issue an executive order effectively stopping the flow of federal transportation dollars to highway widening projects. The rationale is simple: when you find yourself in a hole and want to get out, the first step is to STOP DIGGING. And putting money into highway widening at this moment in time seems to me to be digging the hole deeper in the climate change emergency.
I think that any emergency action should meet two criteria. First, it should have a real, perceptible impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions or promoting a mode shift toward transit and active transportation. Second, it should provide some shock value, to demonstrate to decision makers and the public that yes, this is an emergency situation. A freeze on highway capacity increase projects would clearly forestall significant greenhouse gas emissions stemming both directly from those projects and indirectly from the sprawl development they encourage. And boy would it have shock value!
How could a freeze on highway capacity funding be implemented? Well, it wouldn’t be simple, and some careful legal research would be needed to find the best answer. My initial approach would be to direct the Federal Highway Administration to NOT authorize any highway capacity increase project for the next phase of work (Construction, Right-of-way acquisition, Final design) and require a supplemental environmental review on the grounds that any widening project (or new highway) should be assumed to cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental documents (environmental impact statements, environmental assessments, categorical exclusions) for those projects should also be stopped short of approval on the same grounds. I’m pretty sure it would not be feasible to stop the flow of funds to a project phase that had already been authorized.
There are other actions that should also be explored. These would include finding a way to put more money into transit operating expenses, discouraging fund transfers from transit and active transportation programs into highway programs, providing support for “open streets” programs, and finding some way to encourage better housing/transit linkages. But for me, slamming the brakes on highway expansion would be the most precise and powerful action that could be taken.
Obviously, legislation is needed to carry out a comprehensive transportation reform program that really responds to the climate emergency. But if it really is an emergency, we should aggressively explore all the emergency measures that can be taken by executive action.
