Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Last month, the California Department of Insurance finalized and released new regulations permitting California insurance companies to offer their customers the option of verifying the miles they drive. This has been called “Pay As You Drive Insurance,” even though there...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Last April, I wrote about SB 728, a bill from Long Beach State Senator Alan Lowenthal to expand compliance with California’s Parking Cash-Out program. I’m happy to report that the bill, co-sponsored by NRDC and Environmental Defense Fund, was signed...
Posted by Justin Horner in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
(Update: Monday, October 13th: the Regulations have been finalized by the Insurance Commissioner. Follow this link to view them) Last week, regulations proposed earlier this month by California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner that purport to incentivize Pay As You...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
As Sacramento’s nearly $3.4 billion in cuts to California transit agencies over the past three years begin to take their toll, the California Transit Association has created an interactive “Aftermath” map of what’s happening on the ground. Despite overwhelming support...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
An article in Monday’s Orange County Register about the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), Bus Ridership Drops 20% After Fare Increase, Service Cuts, teaches us some basics about market economics: offer people with limited means the chance to pay more...
Posted by Justin Horner in Environmental Justice , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
The Public Policy Institute of California has just released its 100th Statewide Survey, Californians and the Environment. The ninth environmental survey from PPIC since 2000, the Survey series “provides policymakers, the media and the general public with objective, advocacy-free information.” ...
Posted by Justin Horner in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Last week, we here at NRDC released our fourth annual rankings of “smarter cities” across the US. What are smarter cities? Well, I’ll let the website speak for itself: When thinking about the urban environment, more often than not problems...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Last week, President Obama signed the Supplemental Appropriations bill, which, readers of this blog will certainly remember, contains a provision permitting transit agencies to use 10% of their stimulus funding for operations. Up until the President’s signature, stimulus funds were...
Posted by Justin Horner in Health and the Environment , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Like many of you, when I learned of the tragic Metro crash in Washington earlier this week, I was deeply disturbed. When you think about it, there’s something uniquely unsettling about being a passenger on something so big and powerful. ...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
In a pair of revealing reports, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) tells us that: a) Despite lower gas prices, rising unemployment, the economic “situation,” and declining revenues, public transportation ridership is basically the same as it was last year...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
(Thanks to Allen Greenberg at the US Department of Transportation for this lead) (Updated as of October 9, 2009) In a previous post, I described Pay as You Drive Insurance (PAYD), its environmental benefits, and some of the progress made...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
In a previous post, I emphasized the need to provide operating funds for transit, not just capital funds. There’s no sense buying more buses when you’re laying off the people who drive them and repair them. But both the Federal...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
NRDC’s Smart Growth Director, Kaid Benfield, first drew my attention to these fascinating new maps from Chicago’s Center for Neighborhood Technology. For dozens of American metropolitan areas, they’ve compiled census-block-by-census-block data on where CO2 emissions from driving are the highest....
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
As I’ve posted repeatedly, for almost a year-and-a-half, Americans generally, and Californians in particular, have been driving less. This is a really big deal: there have been times where the rate of growth has been faster or slower, but there...
Posted by Justin Horner in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
The more you learn about public transit, the happier about it you get. As I’ve written earlier, transit is essential to create more livable communities and to cut down on global warming pollution. Now, apparently, it’s also good for your...
