Tell your senators to boost funding for clean transportation in the climate bill

Senators Boxer and Kerry unveiled a strong climate bill that recognizes the growing impact of transportation emissions on our climate. But we need to make sure states have adequate funding to provide cleaner, safer and smarter transportation options for Americans.

The exact funding details are still being debated, but if the Senate follows the lead of the House, the bill would only direct an optional 1% to clean transportation, even though one-third of all emissions come from transportation.

Tell your Senators to guarantee funding for cleaner, more efficient transportation options in the climate bill.

May 19, 2013

Subject:

Dear Senator:

I am writing to support the strong provisions for clean transportation in the Boxer-Kerry Climate Bill, and also to urge you to support an increase in allocations for clean transportation choices.

Similar to language in the Clean Low-Emission Affordable New Transportation Efficiency Act (CLEAN-TEA, S. 575) the Boxer-Kerry bill requires states and MPOs to come up with long-range plans for greenhouse gas reductions from transportation, providing funding for planning and strategies that can help them meet their targets. In the House bill, those allocations were only one percent of total revenues, even though transportation is responsible for one-third of our emissions.

Transportation contributes nearly one-third of the total annual CO2 emissions in the U.S. and will likely generate more than 20 percent of revenues in the bill. The bill rightly requires federal, state and local governments to account for their transportation emissions and to make plans to keep their emissions under the targets they set for themselves. In order for those plans to succeed, the clean energy bill must offer meaningful financial support for states and metropolitan regions to implement those plans, and to provide Americans the clean, affordable travel options they need, now and in the future.

Give states and metro areas the critical tools they’ll need to meet these ambitious targets - give them a greater share of climate bill revenues to spend on cleaner transportation alternatives.

I hope you can support this important legislation, and will work to improve it even further.

Sincerely,

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