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Archive for the ‘Policy’ Category

Testimony of Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, Before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

AFL-CIO
here are 13.9 million unemployed workers in the U.S. and millions more who are underemployed or stuck in part-time jobs. Our building and construction trades workers have been particularly hard hit, with a national unemployment level at 22.5% and even higher in some crafts and areas of the country. Our construction union halls that once teemed with workers receiving training or heading to construction sites are now full of folks simply waiting for jobs.

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THE STORY OF ERCOT: The Grid Operator, Power Market & Prices Under Texas Electric Deregulation

Friday, February 18th, 2011
The ERCOT Region

TEXAS COALITION FOR AFFORDABLE POWER
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, is the term used to describe the quasi-governmental organization that manages the state’s power grid. There are few institutions in Texas that are more important. If Texas suddenly lost the grid, homes and factories would go dark. Even the briefest of outages can put public safety at risk. But “ERCOT” also has a second very important meaning. As a term of art, it can describe the geographical footprint of electric deregulation in Texas. Efficiency in this market is absolutely vital for the state economy.

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Invest in a Prosperous and Healthy America

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

BLUEGREEN ALLIANCE
We are well into the 21st century, but American transportation is still rooted firmly in the 20th. Our highways, transit and rail infrastructure need massive investment; further delay only hinders our economy and limits employment potential. Investments in a 21st century transportation system, as well as building the next generation of cleaner and electric vehicles, will create manufacturing jobs across the nation.

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The Rockefeller Foundation Infrastructure Survey

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
…two in three voters say that making improvements in infrastructure is very important, and most voters say that in its current state the nation’s transportation system is barely adequate. Voters seek better and safer roads and more public transportation options, widely agreeing that the United States would benefit from an expanded and improved public transportation system.

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A Few Questions Concerning the President’s FY 2012 Budget Submission

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

The President said he will make sure that his program will be “fully paid for” and pledged to work with Congress to ensure that funding for surface transportation does not increase the deficit. But these vague expressions of intent are hardly appropriate in a Budget message which traditionally was meant to offer Congress and the public concrete explanations on how the Administration intends to fund its proposed program initiatives.

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Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2012

Monday, February 14th, 2011

WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
After two of the most difficult years in generations for our Nation’s economy, we are at the end of the first phase of the journey, back from the devastating recession. We no longer face the collapse of our financial system or the start of a second Great Depression. Swift and decisive action has turned the tide, and the Nation’s economy is recovering.

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What Others Are Saying About the President’s High-Speed Rail Proposal

Monday, February 14th, 2011

“With all of the evidence indicating that HSR is an exceptionally costly and inefficient means of travel that only a few passengers choose to use, it is difficult to explain the obsession of some, including the President and members of his Cabinet, with this mode of travel. In part, this obsession seems to have little to do with travel per se, but rather with the quality of the travel experience.”
-Ronald Utt, The Heritage Foundation

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CT/NJ/NY: Most Dangerous Roads for Walking And How States Can Make them Safer

Thursday, February 10th, 2011
Regional Pedestrian Fatalities by Road Type

TRI-STATE TRANSPORTATION CAMPAIGN
The most dangerous places for people to walk are wide, high‐speed roads designed to move as many cars as fast as possible, with little if any consideration for pedestrians. In New Jersey, downstate New York, and Connecticut, nearly two‐thirds of regional pedestrian fatalities occur on multi‐lane thoroughfares known as arterials, like the Burlington Pike running along the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, and the Hempstead Turnpike bisecting Nassau County.

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NEW JOBS – CLEANER AIR: Employment Effects Under Planned Changes to the EPA’s Air Pollution Rules

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
Merrimack Station The Merrimack Station, New Hampshire’s largest coal-fired power plant, constructed a scrubber to control SO2 and mercury emissions. According to PSNH, the owner of the facility, the project provided more than 300 construction jobs for the three-year construction period.

CERES
The report finds that investments driven by the EPA’s two new air quality rules will create nearly 1.5 million jobs, or nearly 300,000 jobs a year on average over the next five years – and at a critical moment for a struggling economy. The end product will be an upgraded, cleaner American industry, along with good paying jobs and better health for the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

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A $53 Billion High-Speed Rail Program to Nowhere

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Vice President Joe Biden announced today a plan to spend $53 billion over the next six years on passenger high-speed rail projects that will help reach the goal of giving 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years. According to the announcement, the proposal will place high-speed rail “on equal footing with other surface transportation programs.” The initiative includes $8 billion in the President’s FY 2012 budget proposal, of which $4 billion will be focused on building new infrastructure and $4 billion will be dedicated to system preservation and renewal. The announcement makes no mention how the plan will be paid for.

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