Matt Casale
Former Director, Environment Campaigns, PIRG
Former Director, Environment Campaigns, PIRG
WASHINGTON – The United States Department of Transportation announced on Thursday a new program to spend $6.4 billion over the next five years to reduce climate emissions from the nation’s transportation sector. The new Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) was created by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden last November.
From installing infrastructure to support the electrification of freight vehicles and personal cars, to constructing Bus Rapid Transit corridors and supporting walking and biking, the CRP will fund a wide range of projects designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from on-road highway sources.
The administration apportioned $1.2 billion for the CRP for 2022. A state-by-state breakdown of funding is available here. The program requires that each state develop a carbon-reduction strategy within two years.
In response, U.S. PIRG Environment Campaigns Director Matt Casale issued the following statement:
“Over the last century, America has built a transportation system that makes it easy to drive and hard to do almost anything else. As an unintended consequence, car-centric policies have also left us with choking traffic, polluted air and an emerging climate disaster. Not only that, but car-centric policies leave us vulnerable to oil price shocks caused by events the world over that we cannot control.
“The bipartisan infrastructure law gives us a chance to hit reset – and to build a transportation network for Americans that meets our modern challenges. We have the opportunity to build a less polluting, safer, more affordable transportation system that helps us address climate change. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s announcement today on funding for the Carbon Reduction Program is an exciting opportunity for states to take a leap forward and start putting the promise of Biden’s landmark infrastructure law into action.”
Environment America’s Destination Zero Carbon Campaign Director Morgan Folger said:
“Transportation is the largest climate polluter in the United States. Considering that Americans drive more than 3.2 trillion miles each year in inefficient, polluting vehicles, it’s actually not that surprising. Moving people and goods has become tied to severe climate change impacts that are disrupting millions of lives with life-threatening flooding, wildfires and unprecedented hurricanes.
We must make a massive shift in how we get around to cut global warming pollution. The good news is that at least we don’t need to invent new technologies to get there. From bicycles to electric cars and bus-only lanes, the U.S. Department of Transportation can help states invest in better ways to get around. The new Carbon Reduction Program will help states tackle the climate crisis and begin the work of redesigning a safer, healthier transportation system for today and future generations.”