The U.S. Interior Dept. issued final regulations on Dec. 11 that clarify when consultations with other agencies are required under the Endangered Species Act. Interior says the change was needed to prevent lawmakers from using the law as a back door way to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The new rules were narrower than an August proposal, which was widely criticized by environmental groups. The final version permits agencies to forgo consultation only in limited circumstances, Interior says. Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the top environment committee Republican, calls the revision “a step in the right direction.” But the National Audubon Society is
President-elect Barack Obama on Dec. 13 named New York City Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Shaun Donovan as his pick for Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Donovan was a HUD deputy assistant secretary in the Clinton administration and later a Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. managing director. HUD construction programs include Community Development Block Grants.
The Senate and House cleared a pension bill that offers temporary help for single-employer and multi-employer funds and individual retirees hurt by the financial markets’ downturn. Final action came with Senate passage on Dec.11. Multi-employer plans are important in unionized construction. The bill gives underfunded multi-employer plans 13 years, up from 10 now, to implement improvement plans. It also lets multi-employer plans elect to freeze their category—healthy, endangered or seriously endangered—for one year, which would help plans that were healthy until the markets’ plunge. “It’s a great temporary fix and ...was very much needed,” says Dana Thompson, Sheet Metal and
The fiscal picture has grown worse for many states, according to a survey from the National Governors Association and National Association of State Budget Officers. The report, released Dec. 15, says that because of the ailing national economy, cumulative state operating spending is projected to fall in fiscal 2009, by 0.1%, the first spending decrease since 1983. The study, NGA and NASBO's biannual Fiscal Survey of States, also says that since their 2009 fiscal year started on July 1, 31 states have reported that they face budget shortfalls totaling $29.7 billion. The report focuses on states' operating budgets, but revenue
Congress has cleared pension legislation that would provide temporary relief for single-employer and multi-employer pension funds, as well as individual retirees, who have seen their funds decline because of the downturn in the financial markets. Final congressional approval came Dec. 11 when the Senate passed the measure by unanimous consent. The House had approved the bill the previous day. Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Dept., said in a letter to state and local BCTD leaders that the legislation "would provide funding relief for the vast majority of building trades' multiemployer plans...which, like most pension plans,
An economic stimulus package is coming, and President-elect Barack Obama has made it clear that infrastructure will be part of it. Obama is not saying how large the plan or its public-works share will be but anxious state and industry officials are assembling lists of projects they would like the stimulus to fund, hoping the password to get those projects included is “ready to go.” Photo: Guy Lawrence / ENR President-elect’s program includes roads, schools, energy upgrades. Related Links: Utah, Florida Lead List For Highway Stimulus Plans Infrastructure advocates’ eyes lit up on Dec. 6 when Obama in a radio
As the incoming Obama administration and congressional Democrats work on an economic stimulus plan, state transportation officials say there are more than 5,100 jobs-creating highway projects worth $64.3 billion that could get under way quickly if funding became available. The $64-billion total in the report, released Dec. 5 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, is more than triple the sum contained in a survey AASHTO conducted in January. President-elect Barack Obama has signaled that public-works funding, including aid for highways, is likely to be part of a stimulus plan expected to be proposed in January. But
Plans for a $5-billion rail transit extension towards northern Virginia's Dulles International Airport have cleared an important hurdle, with the Federal Transit Administration's Dec. 3 approval of a $900-million, multi-year funding commitment to the project's $2.6-billion first phase. The deal isn't done yet, however. The proposed commitment still needs approval by U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and the Office of Management and Budget. Sarah Echols, a U.S. DOT spokesperson, said, "The department is continuing to review this complex project to ensure it meets all statutory requirements and additional conditions agreed to by the project sponsors." Such reviews traditionally take about
Amtrak has tapped Joseph H. Boardman, the head of the Federal Railroad Administration, as its new president and CEO, on a one-year appointment. Boardman, FRA administrator since 2005, began his new job on Nov. 26. Amtrak will look for a permanent CEO and Boardman could be a candidate for that post, says Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black. Boardman succeeds Alexander Kummant, who resigned the top Amtrak position on Nov. 14. Boardman, New York State Dept. of Transportation commissioner from 1997 to 2005, takes over at Amtrak shortly after enactment of a bill authorizing $5.3 billion over five years for the railroad’s
Momentum is building for an economic-stimulus package that includes substantial funding for infrastructure. With the recession straining many states’ budgets, governors and state legislators on Dec. 1 weighed in with a call for the incoming Obama administration and new Congress to include up to $136 billion for “ready-to-go” projects in a stimulus plan expected to be unveiled early in January. Photo: AP/Wideworld Rendell (L) leads governors’ push for funding. Governors, led by Pennsylvania’s Edward Rendell (D), made their pitch personally to President-elect Barack Obama at a Dec. 2 meeting in Philadelphia. Obama told the governors that “this administration does not
