STATEMENT OF MICHAEL A. REPLOGLE
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION DIRECTOR
TO THE SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
JULY 14, 1999

A vital provision of the Clean Air Act is today under attack. Senate Bill 1053 would reopen a loophole to let those who profit from building roads at taxpayer expense avoid accountability for the effects of their projects on public health and air quality. The bill would reinstate unsound regulations rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in a March 2, 1999, ruling. We urge you to oppose that bill and efforts to enact it or other anti-environmental riders here or through the appropriations process.

The rule struck down by the Court allowed projects planned years ago to receive new funding agreements long after it was clear that the projects and the larger systems they compose would exacerbate violations of national air quality standards. Nearly all available resources in some metro areas were committed to projects that would worsen traffic growth, pollution, and sprawl while leaving no resources available for air-quality improving projects.

Metro Atlanta provides a good example of what was wrong with the regulations overturned by the court and how Clean Air Act conformity encourages better regional problem-solving. Georgia officials knew in 1995 that the Atlanta transportation plan could not conform with the State Implementation Plan emission budget for 1999. There were many solution available, such as adopting measures for cleaner fuels and vehicles, better vehicle inspection and maintenance, or smarter growth and transportation investments that could cut traffic growth, or changing their air quality plan to clean up old, dirty power plants. Instead, they chose to pursue a loophole. Though half of Atlanta's pollution comes from car and truck tailpipes, EPA' now-overturned regulations allowed approval of nearly $1 billion of new sprawl and traffic inducing road projects even after the transportation plan was found to grossly exceed the emission limits set in the Georgia air pollution plan for 1999. With six years of road construction activity exempted through this loophole, Georgia road-builders tried to stick the bill to everyone else for air pollution clean-up.

It was Atlanta's reputation for a high quality of life that took the hit. Their massive road building effort didn't solve traffic problems, but brought them longest commutes in America and increasing air pollution violations. Atlanta business and civic leaders got the wake-up call, and this year established a new regional authority to better manage their growth, transportation, and air pollution. This is a Clean Air Act conformity success story in the making, helped by the March 2nd ruling. Federal, Georgia, and Atlanta area officials last month signed an agreement prohibiting funds for grandfathered road projects until the region has a new transportation plan that conforms with Clean Air Act requirements. Regional authorities hope to adopt such a plan in March 2000. Construction continues on several hundred million dollars of roads approved prior to the ruling.

The court ruling is bringing Atlanta area residents better transportation choices and cleaner air. Since March, several hundred million dollars have been redirected from highways at the edge of the region into projects that address pollution and transportation problems, including buying clean buses, building park-and-ride centers, HOV lanes, smart traffic signal and traveler information systems, reconstructed bridges and intersections, and highway safety projects.

US DOT and EPA have issued workable legal guidance implementing the ruling. Nationally, the list of regions and projects affected by the ruling indicates a changing and shrinking list of metro areas that face generally short-term issues requiring problem-solving to resolve conflict between the transportation and air quality plans. DOT and EPA are trying to head off future problems before they occur. Thanks to the ruling, the costs of pollution cleanup-from traffic growth won't be automatically thrown onto utilities, small businesses, and others by locking in pollution-increasing commitments to road projects years in advance of when funding is available, as happened in Atlanta. By reopening the same failed loophole that allowed Atlanta to get into its mess, Senate bill 1053 would encourage repetition of Atlanta's mistakes, delaying and making more costly the attainment of healthful air quality across America.

Proponents of Senate bill 1053 say the March 2nd ruling would shut down highway construction in much of America, stunt economic development, increase air pollution, and endanger the traveling public. Just the opposite is the case.

Highway safety projects remain exempt from Clean Air Act funding curbs. Smart engineers and planners will continue building highways under conformity that operate safely during all phases of system development, while managing traffic growth, expanding travel choices, and respecting environmental laws. In most regions that face conformity issues, conflicts between air quality and transportation plans will be resolved without great delay by adopting readily available measures that have been successful elsewhere, such as cleaner fuels, vehicle maintenance, traffic and growth management, and area and stationary source air pollution controls.

No legislative fix is needed in response to the March 2nd ruling. But if there is any effort to improve Clean Air Act implementation, we would suggest it make it easier for regions to add pollution and traffic reducing measures to their transportation plans and programs during conformity lapses and promote fuller consideration of the cost-effectiveness of demand and growth management and transportation pricing incentives in the regional planning process.

Thank you for your consideration.