Related Links: White House Report: The Cost of Delaying Action to Stem Climate Change A delay in curbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse-gas emissions could lead to a 40% increase in costs associated with climate change per decade delayed, according to a July 29 report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers.The White House also projects $150 billion in damage per year to the U.S. economy in 10 years if no action is taken.Both estimates are contingent on a projected 3°C increase over pre-industrial temperatures.The report’s data was gathered from 16 different studies of more than 100 pairs
Courtesy NTSB Crash in 2012 cost insurer $1 million. Courtesy NTSB The runway slope was improperly made by contractor, claims insurer for crashed jet. An insurer that reportedly paid out $1 million to the owner of a small private jet that crashed on a Georgia airport runway in 2012 is suing the airport and a contractor that reconstructed the runway. The insurer claims the runway was improperly built.To win its case, the insurer, Old Republic Insurance, will apparently have to disprove part or all of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the crash at Macon Downtown Airport. The investigation
Related Links: Link to the National Research Council Report page A new National Research Council report calls for a national risk assessment to identify coastal areas that face the greatest threats from natural disasters and should be high priorities for risk-reduction efforts.The report, released on July 23, says the U.S. lacks a unified national vision for reducing the impacts of natural disasters along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.The risk assessment is needed because the current framework for addressing natural disasters and sea-level rise is disconnected and fragmented, the report's authors say.To achieve a national vision, the report says the federal
The Obama administration has announced the launch of a $10-billion loan fund—initially drawing on private capital—to help finance water, electric-power and other infrastructure projects in rural areas.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters in a conference call, that the new U.S. Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund, which the White House Rural Council announced on July 24, “means that we can begin to address aggressively the infrastructure deficit that exists in the United States in the rural communities today.”CoBank, a cooperative bank based in Greenwood Village, Colo., is the fund’s “anchor” investor, providing $10 billion in capital, said CEO Robert Engel. The fund
Related Links: White House backgrounder on rural infrastructure fund CoBank release describing new infrastructure fund The Obama administration has announced the launch of a $10-billion loan fund that, initially, draws on private capital to help finance water, electric-power and other infrastructure projects in rural areas.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters in a conference call that the new U.S. Rural Infrastructure Opportunity Fund, which the White House Rural Council announced on July 24, “means that we can begin to address aggressively the infrastructure deficit that exists in the United States in the rural communities today.”CoBank, a cooperative bank based in Greenwood
Related Links: EPA Study says Pebble Mine Could Destroy Salmons' Habitat Proposed Controversial Mine Loses Key Investor The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken a step toward curbing discharges associated with a planned open-pit gold and copper mine near Bristol Bay, Alaska.Proponents of the proposed $6-billion to $8-billion Pebble Mine project, which would be one of the world's largest of its type, say the action is just the latest in a series of EPA efforts to prevent the mine from being developed.An EPA regional office on July 18, citing the Clean Water Act, proposed restricting all mining-related discharges of dredged
Photo by AP Wideworld Focal point Initiative includes a new DOT "one-stop shop" to help remove barriers to the greater use of private dollars in infrastructure. Related Links: White House transcript of Obama July 17 speech on infrastructure White House summary of infrastructure-finance initiative President Obama is seeking to tap more private-sector dollars to help finance a wide range of U.S. infrastructure projects, but his new plan consists of modest, incremental actions and doesn't include any new federal spending.The Build America Investment Initiative, which Obama announced on July 17, includes what he calls a new U.S. Dept. of Transportation "one-stop
Related Links: Text of Senate-passed TRIA extension House Financial Services Chairman Hensarling's statement on Senate-passed bill A move to reauthorize the federal backstop for terrorism insurance has gained ground, with the Senate's July 17 approval of a seven-year extension. But House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) criticized the Senate bill and said resolving the issue will take months.Industry officials want Congress to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, or TRIA, before it expires on Dec. 31. Jeffrey D. DeBoer, Real Estate Roundtable CEO, said that, if TRIA lapses and commercial real estate owners lack terrorism coverage, it would
Related Links: White House summary of infrastructure finance initiative Obama July 17 memo to agency heads President Obama has launched a program that aims to find ways to tap more private-sector dollars to help finance a wide range of U.S. infrastructure projects, but the plan doesn’t include any new federal spending.The Build America Investment Initiative, which Obama kicked off in a July 17 memorandum to agency heads, consists of several modest, incremental actions, including what he called a new “one-stop shop” at the U.S. Dept. of Transportation to identify barriers to greater use of private transportation infrastructure investment and find
Photo Courtesy of VDOT Related Links: Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation analysis: Trust-fund impact of House bill, as approved by Ways and Means Committee Joint Committee on Taxation analysis of Senate Finance bill's impact on trust fund Legislation to add $10.8 billion to the ailing Highway Trust Fund, which could keep the fund in the black into next spring, is moving ahead in Congress as the House passed the measure on July 15 by a strong 367-55 vote.The House-approved trust-fund "patch" has the same bottom line as a measure that the Senate Finance Committee cleared on July 10. But the
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