Truth Be Tolled

Current admin in action: ignoring rules to get what it wants

"Laws ensuring clean water for us and our children -- dismissed. Laws protecting wildlife, land, rivers, streams and places of cultural significance -- just a bother to the Bush administration. Laws giving American citizens a voice in the process -- gone. Clearly this is out of control.

It is this kind of absolute disregard for the well-being and concerns of border communities and the welfare of our wildlife and untamed borderlands that has forced Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club to take a stand and say 'No more!'

Just a few weeks ago we filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to fight the unconstitutional authority the Bush administration has seized to waive any and all laws it views as inconvenient in its rush to build an unpopular, ineffective border wall. Today's egregious abuse of power is more proof that this cannot be allowed to continue."

--Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, in response to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's announcement today that he is imposing a blanket waiver of environmental and land management laws along 470 miles of the U.S. and Mexico border

Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of this controversial waiver as a "flagrant violation of the separation of powers principle that frames the U.S. Constitution."

TTC segment gets by with a little help from its friends

Public private partnerships in action: the ink wasn't even dry on Cintra's SH 130 financial contract when the following press release came out.

From USDOT

U.S. Department of Transportation Approves $430 Million Loan to Complete New Alternative to Congested I-35

WASHINGTON, DC - A $430 million loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation will give Texas the financial push it needs to help complete a new north-south highway as an alternative to the congested I-35 from Austin to San Antonio, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters announced today.

"We're helping give this project the push it needs so commuters can experience less congestion, shippers less delays and the region less headaches," Secretary Peters said.

The new southern portion of the four-lane highway is scheduled to link to the already opened northern one in 2012. When complete, the 91-mile SH 130 corridor will be entirely tolled and provide a new route to take traffic off the most congested section of I-35 in the central United States.

Cintra and Zachry American Infrastructure will finance the $1.36 billion project through the USDOT loan, bank loans and investor capital. Electronic tolling will make it possible for drivers to pay the toll without having to use cash at a tollbooth.

The loan was made possible through the Department's innovative Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan program which encourages private sector participation in the financing of highway projects with flexible repayment terms.

Secretary Peters added that the Texas project was another example of the private sector's readiness to invest in U.S. transportation infrastructure and of an evolving federal approach to financing major capacity improvements.

Mary Peters pushes privatized tolls for all of U.S.

From Associated Press

WASHINGTON — While the federal transportation secretary says privately built toll roads can help meet states' transportation needs, Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe says rural areas don't have the traffic counts that will justify their construction.

Speaking to the National Governors Association on Sunday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said private dollars are needed to meet highway needs, not just public funds that are subject to regular fights in Congress.

The nation's current highway funding law expires in September 2009. Peters suggested replacing the current funding plan with a $400 billion network of privately funded toll roads and bridges — saying many investors are willing to step in.

But Beebe said rural states don't generate enough traffic to justify private investment in toll roads and asked Peters why the United States was building roads overseas instead of making more funds available at home.

"Does the administration have any plans to increase the size of the pie?" Beebe asked.

Peters said the foreign infrastructure investments, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, had played a significant role in keeping the United States safe from terrorists.

The Delta Regional Authority, meanwhile, said the federal government should give a higher priority to road projects that can help generate business. The agency is seeking its own funding stream and said it would like $18.5 billion to fund 3,843 miles of new roads, including 11 projects in Arkansas.

Rex Nelson, the federal co-chairman of the authority, said the agency also wasn't sure about Peters' interest in privately owned toll roads.

"Traffic count is certainly a concern for us," Nelson said.

Perry for President?

From Dalllas Morning News

COLUMBIA, S.C. – After watching Gov. Rick Perry gallivant around Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina these past weeks, the conclusion is unavoidable: Our governor is running for president.

Stop laughing; it's true.

Why else would he play to small crowds in small towns, talking to people who have never heard of him and, in some cases, care less about the candidate he represents?

He's not running for president now, of course. For 2008, he'll be happy to be mentioned as a vice presidential contender.

What Mr. Perry wants is consideration for a White House run in 2012 or beyond.

For the record, he says he's only thinking about getting former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani elected. But what else is he going to say at this point?

"I have no idea what I'm going to do in 2010," he said after a campaign stop in Columbia, referring to the year his current term expires. "The good news is I don't have to make a decision."

One Republican who watched him speak in Columbia couldn't help but point out the obvious, as Mr. Perry continued making sudden gestures with his arms and hands.

"He's very Bush-like with that," said Scott Malyerck, South Carolina's deputy state treasurer.

Mr. Perry's foray into the national spotlight began as summer concluded. He addressed a convention of California Republicans, receiving better applause from the grass-roots activists than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by telling them to stay true to their conservative values and ignore soothsayers who contend the GOP must become more moderate.

Months later, he made a mildly surprising endorsement of Mr. Giuliani for president. Mr. Perry's support was based on Mr. Giuliani's ideas about fighting the war on global terrorism and his record as a fiscal conservative.

On the social front, Mr. Giuliani differs from Mr. Perry by supporting abortion rights and gay marriage.

After the public endorsement, Mr. Perry began making trips to Iowa, meeting Hawkeye State voters who marveled at his boots and striking hair.

After a couple of trips, his conversations often would veer off the subject of Mr. Giuliani. A few weeks ago he told Iowa voters that President Bush was not – and had never been – a fiscal conservative.

On Tuesday, Mr. Perry was in South Carolina meeting Giuliani supporters.

"I'd rather be in Texas," he told a small band of mostly Giuliani Republicans. "I'm here because I believe in this guy."

That Mr. Perry supports Mr. Giuliani and is willing to campaign for him in early primary states is not that unusual.

But it's clear that Mr. Giuliani is not investing his campaign resources in Iowa or South Carolina.

These are states where Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and John McCain are slugging it out.

Last week, when most other GOP candidates were in Iowa, South Carolina or other early primary states, Mr. Giuliani was in Dallas for a day of multiple fundraisers.

In essence, Mr. Perry is helping the former New York mayor make the rounds in states he doesn't expect to win.

He's preaching to a choir that's being led by another minister.

So what does Mr. Perry get out of it?

Well, if Mr. Giuliani's strategy of winning the nomination by holding on until Feb. 5 and then cashing in on the big delegate states like New York and California works, Mr. Perry could see a payback.

He'll get mentioned as a possible running mate, though most analysts say the Bush years have tired the nation on another Texan on the presidential ticket.

But it's the mention and subsequent discussion that Mr. Perry wants.

He'll take that and run with it, particularly when the 2012 presidential sweepstakes begin. That's when he'll return to Iowa and South Carolina with his boots and that hair and hope that the party faithful remembers how charming, thoughtful and conservative he was when stumping for Mr. Giuliani.

Mr. Perry knows it takes years for an outsider to build relations in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Yes, he says he's in those states for his man Rudy.

In reality, he's also looking out for himself.

"I'm very impressed with him," said Craig Wall, a 38-year-old Columbia developer. "I'll keep an eye on him. You never know."

Congressmen troubled by TxDOT

By Charles Davis

Texas Public Radio's Capitol Correspondent

Last month members of the Texas congressional delegation received an unusual letter from the Texas Department of Transportation.

In the letter TxDOT is demanding that Texas congressmen seek approval for all transportation projects with them in Austin before obtaining federal funding.

Republican Congressman Ted Poe of Humble, Texas, said that’s not how the funding process works. He was blunt about what he thinks of TxDOT’s demands.

“They’ve gotten too big for their britches. Obviously,” Poe said.

He argues only lawmakers should choose what projects are built because only they are accountable to their voters.

“TxDOT is an administrative group and they are to spend the money as we direct that they are to spend it, whether they like it or not. Their responsibility is not to determine projects. Their responsibility is to build bridges and roads and freeways,” Poe said.

TxDOT spokesman Randall Dillard says the agency just wants to make sure that those bridges and roads are built where they are most needed.

“We didn’t mean to offend anybody by the letter. We’re certainly sorry if it did offend people. Our intent is just to make sure that we can advance transportation projects here in Texas,” Dillard said.

But unless TxDOT compromises on their position, some lawmakers feel funding for their districts could be in danger.

San Antonio Democratic Congressman Charlie Gonzales thinks TxDOT’s letter was strange, and says the agency’s position could hurt the state.

“For TxDOT to basically say ‘don’t send us any federal dollars’ is not truly in the best interests of Texans and our communities that are petitioning and requesting their representatives here in Congress to seek those funds.” Gonzales says he understands TxDOT’s concern over which projects get federal funding. But he argues that Congress only appropriates money where it’s needed.

“Obviously we’re not asking for these funds unless someone has brought some great need to our attention,” Gonzales said.

South Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar said he is also upset at TxDOT. But he’s more diplomatic about it.

“I understand and respect the Department of Transportation for the position that they’ve taken. But for us to pre-clear everything through them – it’s just not the way things are done,” Cuellar said.

Cuellar said he thinks TxDOT won’t actually turn down any federal money. He says the agency needs to work closer with Congress to determine the state’s most pressing needs.

“You know we can also set priorities, that if they have a difference I think they can sit down with us. But to send a letter like they did, without even talking to us; I think was not the right thing for them to do,” he said.

TxDOT receives about 40% of its budget from Washington. But the agency usually needs to match those funds, sometimes for projects that might not be a priority. Spokesman Randall Dillard says TxDOT wants to ensure lawmakers work together for the state, not just their district.

“We just want to make sure that when our congressmen and women in Washington are securing dollars for specific projects, that those projects are coordinated and that we’re all working to advance that same project,” said Dillard.

According to the US Census, Texas’ population is growing by almost twice the national average. Dillard says Congress needs to work closely with TxDOT to find the best solutions to the state’s growing transportation needs.

“Every three years we add the equivalent of a city the size of San Antonio to our population. So the challenges are out there, and it’s a situation where with the rising congestion it’s impacting peoples safety, it’s impacting air quality, it’s impacting the overall quality of life for millions of people,” said Dillard.

But lawmakers argue that TxDOT officials aren’t elected, so they shouldn’t choose which projects are built.

Congressman Gonzales says he and other lawmakers wrote a letter to TxDOT explaining their concerns.

“I thought it was a very polite letter saying, ‘look, what do you mean by this and it doesn’t make any sense,” Gonzales said.

“Do you really want us to stop attempting to gain federal dollars for Texas highway dollars when we have every other state in the union fighting for the same dollar?’

Most lawmakers think their dispute with TxDOT can be worked out before federal transportation dollars are threatened. But almost a month after their letter was sent, they say they have not even received a response.

Federal bills seek to halt tolling

By Jill Dunn

From etrucker.com

U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, has introduced the Toll Road Prohibition Act, the latest bill designed to prevent tolling on federally built highways.

HR 3802, introduced Oct. 10, would require states and cities to repay the U.S. government all federal funds used for construction of highways, bridges or tunnels, along with “reasonable interest,” before introducing tolls. “The American people should not be required to pay for the same highway twice, once through their tax dollars and again through new tolls on federal interstate highways,” Boswell said.

The legislation would not prohibit the states from entering into public-private toll agreements, but it would force them to repay the federal Highway Trust Fund first. The bill has been referred to the House transportation and infrastructure committee.

Also before that committee is a bill introduced Sept. 7 by U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa. HR 3510 would prohibit tolls on federal highways and on any highways bought back from the federal government by states. Peterson said it was part of his opposition to his state’s plan to toll Interstate 80.

Peterson’s bill is the House companion to S2019, introduced by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. The Texas Department of Transportation wants a change in federal law to allow state buybacks of federal highways for the purpose of tolling.

Hutchison’s bill is a rare instance of a Republican on Capitol Hill at odds with a Republican governor’s administration at home. Many of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s ambitious toll-financed transportation plans have proved unpopular within his own party. The Texas GOP opposes Perry’s Trans-Texas Corridor, for example, arguing it will require the confiscation of too much privately owned land.

Strange bedfellows

"The governor does not concern himself with who Rudy Giuliani's law firm may or may not represent."

--Governor Rick Perry's spokesman, Robert Black, quoted by Kelly Shannon of Associated Press in her article, Guiliani builds a political base in Texas

Rudolph Giuliani's Houston law firm, Bracewell & Guiliani, has represented Cintra Zachry, the consortium behind the construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor. Bracewell & Guiliani's political action group gave $10,000 to Rick Perry just before the last election, according to Shannon.

Mr. Giuliani has been quoted as saying that he has never heard of the NAFTA superhighway.

In a New York Times report on the Presidential candidate's Texas fundraising activities earlier this year, Russ Buettner wrote that Giuliani's law firm is "perhaps the nation’s most aggressive lobbyist for coal-fired power plants, heavy emitters of air pollutants and carbon dioxide, a gas associated with global warming," and that the firm played a significant role in convincing the Bush administration to weaken standards of the Clean Air Act.

Perry on the campaign trail?

"Right at the moment, Texas is kind of radioactive."

--Political scientist Bruce Buchanan of the University of Texas at Austin, quoted by Peggy Fikac in her Houston Chronicle report about Governor Rick Perry's California Republican Party convention speech

Perry's appearance at the convention and his vow to campaign like he is "on the ballot" next year prompted Buchanan's response and his assessment that Perry is "working to build his national profile," according to Fikac.

Bush threatens Perry-like veto

From Associated Press via Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON — The transportation spending bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday includes a ban on tolls for existing Texas roadways.

The Texas toll ban is attached to the $106 billion spending bill approved by the Senate
88-7. The bill also includes an amendment banning Mexican trucks from U.S. roadways, which was passed late Tuesday.

The toll ban amendment authored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is in addition to a two-year moratorium imposed on most new privately financed toll road projects by the Legislature during this year's session. The state legislation includes some exemptions.

Building new toll roads or lanes in Texas would not be prohibited by the amendment. In fact, the Texas Department of Transporation is going forward with several toll road projects, said TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott.

The Senate bill now heads to conference committee to be reconciled with the House version.

President Bush has threatened to veto the final bill because of its cost.

Bush allocates $66 mil to NAFTA highways

But don't be misled--there is no such thing as a NAFTA superhighway.

By Mike Sunnucks

From the Phoenix Business Journal

The Bush administration announced Monday it is granting $66.2 million to reduce congestion and improve freight flow on several so-called NAFTA highways.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is allocating the money so it can work with state and local governments and the private sector on six interstate highways, with projects including the addition of bypasses and trucks-only lanes. Five of those highways connect to or run near the Mexican or Canadian borders:

●Interstate 15, which runs from San Diego through part of northwest Arizona all the way to the Canadian border.

●Interstate 10, which runs near the Mexican border from California through Arizona to Florida.

●Intestates 95, which runs from Florida through the northeastern U.S. to Canada.

●Interstate 5, which runs from the California-Mexico border through Oregon to the Washington-Canada border.

●Interstate 69, which free-trade backers hope to turn into a NAFTA superhighway, connecting an existing freeway between Indianapolis and Canada to a proposed highway running south into Texas and splitting to connect with Mexican border crossings at Laredo, Brownsville and McAllen.

The only nonborder highway getting grant money from the Bush administration is Interstate 70, which runs mostly through the Midwest.

The USDOT said Monday the money will be used to study transport options, such as bypasses of major cities and trucks-only lanes.

Supporters say improving such routes will enhance North American trade and commerce. Critics worry that such border-to-border corridors will make it easier for foreign goods to get into the U.S. unchecked and that increased truck traffic will damage animal habitats and air quality.

"These routes are unlikely to alleviate congestion for the long term and will result in further habitat fragmentation and degradation, as well as increased air pollution in areas in or near the proposed expansions and especially where they propose new roads," said Sandy Bahr, state coordinator for the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy group.