The nation's drivers have reduce their driving by 40 billion miles to cope with high fuel prices, 3.7% fewer miles in May of this year than May of last year. This is more than double the drop off seen in April.
However fewer miles driven mean that fewer fuel taxes are collected, one of the primary ways the Highway Trust Fund is replenished. The Highway Trust Fund provides the money for all national transportation programs including road maintenance, bridge repair, and mass transit; current estimates show that it will have a deficit of $5 bilion by 2009.
DOT officials are trying to develop alternative funding mechanisms; in the meantime, the House approved an $8 billion transfer from the general fund into the highway fund. Similar legislation in the Senate was stalled by filibuster soon after.
Anecdotes show that Vermonters are also driving less.
More than $1.5 million in federal grants will help fund more buses in 8 of the 12 transit-serviced areas in Vermont, covering the areas of Addison, Chittenden, Washington, Franklin and Grand Isle, Orange and Windsor Counties, along with Dover, Wilmington, and the Northeast Kingdom.
The Natural Resources Defense Council ranked Vermont the 31st most 'oil addicted' state in the nation, based on the percentage of income its residents spent on gasoline last year. The average amount Vermont motorists spent on gasoline was $1,856. It also ranked 16th in terms of taking action to reduce this dependency on oil, including smart growth and support for regional planning commissions.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation has concluded its statewide public forums to inform its Short Range Public Transportation Plan. Average meeting turnout has been around 40. Tentative plans will be created based on the feedback and presented at another set of forums will be held in late August or in October. At that point top priorities will be identified.
Public input is still welcome at the VTrans website here.
The nonprofit Carshare Vermont (formerly Green Mountain Car Share) has launched its website that explains how the program works, where its cars are located, how much it costs to participate, and explains benefits of car sharing as well. Organizers anticipate a September launch of the program itself. All locations are currently in Burlington but if the first stage is successful, the organization hopes to expand in the future.
An Albany-based developer of alternative fuels will be planting oil-rich pennycress at three sites in New York, this fall. Soybean, a popular biodiesel crop, is 18% oil; the seed of pennycress is 36% oil. Other benefits of developing pennycress as a biodiesel crop is that it grows over the winter, and that is is often a weed in soy fields and so can enable farmers to produce fuel in the winter and food in the summer from soybeans.
A new policy report provides recommendations as to how biofuels policies can best promote their economic and environmental benefits and minimize their drawbacks. Among the conclusions are that governments should avoid simplistic changes to current policies, for example eliminating biofuels mandates and incentives. Instead, the report urges governments to initiate an orderly, innovation-enhancing transition towards incentives that coordinate the multiple goals of biofuels development.
Development of an international market to couple supply and demand is encouraged, as well as incentives for large scale R&D, and biofuel production centered in those regions where feedstocks can be grown most efficiently and where undesirable impacts are the smallest.
Further, the report warns that the potential benefits of an international market could be outweighed by the risks of damage to food and environmental systems unless adequate protective measures are simultaneously introduced. These protective measures will likely include the explicit recognition that sustainable production of biofuels cannot be expanded indefinitely. There are intrinsic limits on the productive capacity of ecosystems, constraining yields per unit of available area and the amount of area that can be dedicated to sustainable biofuels production.
Public transit CCTA is planning to cut service on two Burlington routes and raise the fare on the its Middlebury LINK Express route to counter rising fuel costs. [VPR, CCTA, Burlington Free Press]
Advance Transit may have to detour two routes to New Hampshire as weight limit for corroded Lebonan-White River Junction bridge is lowered. [Union Leader]
Policy watch Vermont's Congressman weighs in on his plans for the energy future. [Rutland Herald]
Schools feel the pinch Milton School District facing 27% increase in transportation costs this year [Burlington Free Press]
Telecommuting future Vermont Telecommunications Authority hopes to increase broadband coverage by including mobile broadband technology on cell towers it constructs [Bennington Banner]
The Candidates The Associate Press compares McCain and Obama energy plans. [Associated Press]
Walking is gaining Google Maps and AOL Maps have added "Walking Directions" their "Get Directions" tools. [Business Week]
Cellulosic ethanol advances University of Georgia researchers make efficiency gains in producing cellulosic ethanol. [University of Georgia]
Idling soon a thing of the past? Executives at Ford, GM and Chrysler say that hybrid technology to eliminate gas consumption during engine idling will be the standard within 10 years. [Examiner.com]
Impacts of gas prices Gas prices have increased online sales, reduced grocery and unnecessary purchases, increased efficient driving by trucking companies, and may even be reducing traffic fatalities. [NPR]
Big oil vs. Big Ag Big Oil is apparently losing ground to Big Ag groups like Archer Daniels Mindland Co. in their influence over U.S. energy policy. [Bloomberg]
Electric cars for India? Indian auto manufacturer gain TATA to develop electric car. [Newstrack India]
Britain's electric role model British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to replace official Jaguar with electric limo. [Sunday Mirror]
Compressed air to displace gas as fuel? A compressed air car that gets 100 miles per gallon? [CNN]
Welcome to the Vermont Clean Cities Coalition Blog Site - an interactive space dedicated to the coalition's objective of advancing “the economic, environmental and energy security of the U.S.” through cutting back on “petroleum consumption in the transportation sector.”
For more information: U.S Department of Energy's Clean Cities website. http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/
The Vermont Clean Cities Coalition supports, promotes and helps coordinate Vermont-related efforts related to fuel efficient and alternative fueled vehicles, transportation alternatives to the automobile, anti-idling campaigns, and funding opportunities and programs that address the Clean Cities mission.
For more information contact Karen Glitman at (802)656-8868 or karen.glitman@uvm.edu or Tristam Coffin at (802)656-9864 or tcoffin@uvm.edu.
