Who would have ever thought that April 20th’s tragic accident on the Deepwater Horizon would result in a months-long continuous flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico? When I wrote down my initial thoughts, the breech at the bottom of the Gulf was an absolute catastrophe in my mind, but no one else seemed to be paying much mind. I’ve lived near and played in the Gulf of Mexico; It’s one of my favorite places on earth. The damage this spill has and will cause is devastating to me personally on so many levels.

Perhaps our lawmakers “get” that, which is why it seems they are taking this disaster as an opportunity to underscore a clean energy policy push (remember, energy production is the #1 producer of greenhouse gas emissions, transportation is #2). The administration is no longer pressured to capitulate to drilling offshore to achieve a “climate change” bill, since there is no one who would be bold enough to push an offshore drilling platform in this context. Also, please note, I doubt you will hear the vernacular “climate change” associated with this effort any longer. It’s going to be “clean energy” all the way.

This still doesn’t tell me exactly what is going to happen with transportation re-authorization, but it bodes well for more sustainable policies. As long as we get there fast enough. Will we?

In tying these two issues, new policy initiatives to be introduced include replacing the funding source for the Highway Trust Fund (whether that be a VMT or other plan) and a change in how the HTF is allocated, moving toward performance based transportation-methodology.

In order to get traction for a Climate Change Bill, a major concession was made in lifting the ban on domestic drilling in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Ironically, as we witness an environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, it is exactly this concession which will torpedo the Climate Change Bill.

So now what happens to efforts to “green-up” transportation funding policies in the next Transportation Re-authorization? Are the two pieces of legislation inextricably linked? Will necessary reform in funding and allocating the HTF be more difficult to achieve? How? Why? How long can we keep a band-aid on our transportation funding problems?

I am not asking these questions for my health – I am asking these questions because I think you have a good handle on this subject matter, so please prognosticate!

6/16/2010 UPDATE:

Who would have ever thought that this tragic accident would result in a months-long continuous flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico? When I wrote down my thoughts above, the breech at the bottom of the Gulf was an absolute catastrophe in my mind. I’ve lived near and played in the Gulf of Mexico; It’s one of my favorite places on earth. The damage this spill has and will cause is devastating to me personally on so many levels.

Perhaps our lawmakers “get” that, which is why it seems they are taking this disaster as an opportunity to underscore a clean energy policy push (remember, energy production is the #1 producer of greenhouse gas emissions, transportation is #2). The administration is no longer pressured to capitulate to drilling offshore to achieve a climate change bill, since there is no one who would be bold enough to push an offshore drilling platform in this context. Also, please note, I doubt you will hear the vernacular “climate change” associated with this effort any longer. It’s going to be “clean energy” all the way.

This still doesn’t tell me exactly what is going to happen with transportation, but it bodes well for more sustainable policies. As long as we get there fast enough. Will we?