AGGBEAT

February 2007

Wanted: A 21st Century Transportation System

The United States’ out-of-date, underfunded, crumbling system requires effective advocacy to achieve change.

by , Senior Editor

The transportation infrastructure of our nation is imperative not only to aggregates operations and the overall construction industry but to the greater public.

Pam Whitted, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), told attendees at the NSSGA 2006 Transportation and Distribution Forum that “besides national security and the ‘War on Terror,’ there is no more important issue than transportation infrastructure.” Aggregates Manager attended the forum, which was held Dec. 3-5 in San Antonio.

Not only is transportation infrastructure linked to national security but also to U.S. economic growth, Whitted says. That’s why effective advocacy is vital to ensuring that our transportation infrastructure will receive the funding and support it needs from Congress.

To achieve this, Whitted points out the four “Ps” of effective advocacy: politics, policy, participation, and persuasion. With November’s election turning over control of Congress to the Democrats, she says the aggregates industry will undergo challenges with its transportation infrastructure issues — but will also be presented with opportunities, particularly educating Congress. “There were lessons learned from this election,” Whitted says. She went on to describe the current political lineup in the context of the first “P” of effective advocacy  — politics.

The second “P” is policy. At Aggregates Manager press time, the FY 2007 Transportation Appropriations Bill  was one of nine spending bills that had not been passed.  Before adjourning, the 109th Congress was expected to pass a “continuing funding” resolution to keep the government running into the new year. The continuing resolution, effective through Feb. 15, funds surface transportation at the FY 2006 level — $36 billion — until then. This would be a loss of $3.4 billion for highways from the FY 2007 authorized funding level. Whitted says that NSSGA and its transportation partners  are working for inclusion of the FY 2007 funding level — $39.1 billion —in the continuing resolution.  

This is problematic, she adds, because “we have a 20th-century transportation system for the 21st century. Our ports need to be deepened, the runways at our airports need to be resurfaced...the lack of capacity on all modes of transportation is leading to congestion.” In the top 85 urban areas, time and congestion costs us $63 billion per year, Whitted points out. By 2020, one-third of the interstate system will be congested.

“Anti-growth coalitions have convinced lawmakers of the fallacy that you can build yourself out of congestion,” she says. “But freight can’t arrive by light rail. Our whole economy depends on truck-based logistics.”

The transportation vision for the future depends on the third ‘P’ of effective advocacy participation from industry. The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission currently is holding public field hearings.  The next hearings are scheduled for Feb. 21 and 22 in Los Angeles and Atlanta. (check www.surfacecommission.gov for dates). Attending these, as well as getting to know elected public officials, will play an important  role in determining future of our nation’s surface transportation infrastructure system, Whitted says. “We need to educate them [public officials] just like any other employee,” Whitted continued

The final ‘P’ of effective advocacy is persuasion.  Whitted says we can be persuasive by developing relationships, providing reliable information based on ‘sound science’, and making good on promises. “If you don’t know an answer, admit ignorance but then go back with the correct information,” she says. “Always make good on promises, and don’t forget to say ‘thank you’ for time and help. How effective we are depends on all of you. If you refuse to become part of the solution, you become part of the problem.” 

MSHA makes evacuation rules permanent

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued a final rule on Dec. 8 that requires mine operators to increase the availability of emergency breathing devices, provide improved training on the use of the devices, improve emergency evacuation and drill training, install lifelines for emergency evacuation, and require immediate notification of MSHA in the event of an accident.

Earlier this year, MSHA issued a rare emergency temporary standard (ETS) aimed at protecting miners by helping them to evacuate an underground mine in the event of an emergency. MSHA held public hearings on the ETS following its publication in the Federal Register. The process was completed with issuance of the new permanent rule on Dec. 8.

Other requirements of the new rule include the following:

• Additional self-contained self-rescue (SCSR) devices for persons in underground coal mines-in working places, on mantrips, in escapeways, and where outby crews work or travel;

• Submission of a revised training plan and a revised program of instruction for improved training on SCSRs; it includes a new requirement for annual SCSR expectations training (training in smoke or simulated smoke and breathing through a realistic training unit);

• Improved quarterly emergency mine evacuation training, including a drill;

• Installation of lifelines; and

• Additional multi-gas detectors to alert miners as to when to put on SCSRs.