I'm the Federal Transportation Policy Director for NRDC and have worked at the intersection of transportation, energy and environmental policy for 20 years. While here I have been chief strategist for advancing bipartisan oil savings legislation as well as renewal of the nation's transportation law (in 2005, and right now). Prior to my decade at NRDC I had the privilege of working, among other places, for the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and Maryland's Department of Environment. I am a graduate of the University of Virginia who grew up as a foreign service kid in nations including Honduras, Panama and Niger.
Posted May 15, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
Yesterday U.S. PIRG released their latest, best analysis of national vehicle-miles-of-travel (VMT) trendlines, reiterating the finding that absolute VMT peaked in 2004 while VMT per capita did so way back in 1996. PIRG advocates a “new direction” for transportation policy, and...continued→
Posted May 9, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
Yesterday I participated in an uplifting ceremony at the White House’s Eisenhower Executive Office Building – the latest installment in the Obama Administration’s “Champions of Change” program, with a special focus on transportation leaders across the country. While politicians down...continued→
Posted April 4, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in U.S. Law and Policy
Within-the-Beltway-bubble debate about the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA is alarmingly over-the-top. Lobbyists and legislators in the Capitol often spout heated rhetoric bashing the law, unhinged from reality on-the-ground where it's mostly applied effectively such that road and transit project designs...continued→
Posted March 21, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Moving Beyond Oil
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA, of which NRDC is a member) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) rolled out a valuable addition to the lit on transportation today: A study of home-price performance near transit in five metro...continued→
Posted March 20, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
It has to be an early April Fools Day joke. The Army Corps of Engineers has, at best, a checkered past when it comes to project designs that harm the environment. "Boondoggle" is almost synonymous with the Corps, as a...continued→
Posted March 7, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
The Census Bureau is working through the latest American Community Survey, and this week my colleague Rob Perks covered some of what's been released regarding that remarkably large subset of commuters who have super-long trips to work. Before analyzing and...continued→
Posted February 7, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Living Sustainably, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
Is climate preparedness and resilience mostly if not entirely a question of costly investments in physical infrastructure? Safe to assume if we keep in mind bits of pithy wisdom like Churchill’s: “We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.” Efficiently...continued→
Posted January 30, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
This past Sunday at church, my daughter and I heard a story based on a children’s book that delighted her and caught my attention too. You may have heard of it – “Ming Lo Moves the Mountain.” It’s a clever parable about...continued→
Posted January 10, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
As you may have heard, after a lapse Congress restored parity between drivers and transit riders when it comes to non-taxable commuting costs. Good articles have been written about this laudable turn of events here and here. As of this...continued→
Posted January 8, 2013 by Deron Lovaas in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
Approaching the escalators exiting the Metro stop near my workplace yesterday, I was annoyed to see that half were out of order. Which half had staff decided to keep running? Those going down, not up. Odd choice. It's no fun...continued→
Posted December 4, 2012 by Deron Lovaas in Moving Beyond Oil
Taking my seat at a large table in the lovely Newseum building yesterday morning, I scanned the faces of other participants in a discussion about energy security. Other than Phyllis Cuttino of the Pew Clean Energy Program, I was the...continued→
Posted November 26, 2012 by Deron Lovaas in Moving Beyond Oil
Looking beyond the top of the ticket, we see big changes in states with 11 new governors elected and (according to Governing magazine) a dozen legislatures moving either rightward or leftward. The governor’s office in North Carolina switches parties with pro-transit, former...continued→
Posted November 14, 2012 by Deron Lovaas in Green Enterprise, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
Growing interest in innovative approaches to renewal and improvement of our outdated transportation system was evidenced in MAP-21 when both chambers of Congress stepped forward with dramatic expansion of the Transportation Infrastructure Financing Innovation Act under the stirring moniker “America Fast Forward.” While so far it has...continued→
Posted November 1, 2012 by Deron Lovaas in Solving Global Warming
The Boy Scout motto ("Be prepared") should guide state transportation departments (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and transit agencies as we recover from the destruction Hurricane Sandy wreaked. This superstorm was deemed historic for transit right off the bat by...continued→
Posted October 25, 2012 by Deron Lovaas in Moving Beyond Oil, U.S. Law and Policy
Yesterday I flipped through the Philadelphia Inquirer to see what's happening in the city of brotherly love, and lo and behold there's a piece about a new bike trail next to the Schuykill River. The project was entirely paid for...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
