Objectives:
Increase use of alternative modes of transportation to reduce motor vehicle emissions
and improve the nation's air quality.
This objective monitors how people commute in the following ways:
Trips made by bicycle
Trips made by walking
Trips made by transit
People that telecommute
Emerging Issues:
The amount of air pollutants released from motor vehicles have been greatly reduced. Yet, the amounts can still be further reduced if the amount of miles traveled in motor vehicles are reduced and the type of motor vehicle, such as SUV or mini-vans, that typically produce more emissions, are not used.
Opportunities & Challenges:
EPA targets three major air pollutants which include nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury. The EPA also aim to reduce the amount smog, acid rain, poor visibility, and nitrogen and mercury deposits. The EPA is looking to clean up the air quality by using new and cleaner pollution control strategies. One way to control the output of pollution is by controlling the amount of motor vehicles being used. Therefore, they are promoting using alternate forms of transportation.
H.R. 3271 Green Routes to Work Act (Introduced to House Committees)
Title: To provide tax breaks and incentives for businesses to provide green transportation alternatives such as providing tax free transit passes to employees, giving a tax credit to businesses who provide a commuter van to employees and allow for employees to be reimbursed for bicycles or transit passes used to commute to and from work. This bill also calls for the removal of barriers for cyclist commuters.
Sponsors: Rep. Earl Blumenauer
Latest Major Action: July 21, 2009 referred to House committee
Recommendation: Vote Yes for H.R 3271 Green Routes to Work Act
My Representatives: Jim Oberstar
Funny, but I saw your post AFTER I did this exercise, and it turns out we chose the same Act that's similar to outdoor air quality! I think this is an important issue to vote on, because we need to start seeing change NOW because this pollution issue isn't improving very quickly
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of your bill. I think giving people an incentive to be eco-friendly might help jump start their progress.
ReplyDeleteThis will be an interesting topic to learn about I think. I was going to do alternative transportation but then I found a rather interesting bill so I decided to do that instead. I am really excited to hear about what your bill has to say!
ReplyDeleteThis really does make me wonder if this is a raising concern for everyone and especially college students because this is a very hot topic for our group. Incentives are always a great way to get people started but to maintain might be harder done than said. This bill is different than the other ones, which makes it really interesting. I am wondering what else will happen from it.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of this bill. As you mentioned before, we have the same objective. Though, I think it's really neat that you were able to find a different bill than myself. What I like about this bill is how they would reimburse employees if they purchased a bicycle. I feel as if it's almost a win-win situation, where the company wins because they have healthy employees and it didn't cost them much to provide that care and the employees win because they didn't have to spend their spare money in order to purchase the bicycle, if they bike to work their health would be increasing, AND employees wouldn't have to pay for gas! I also like how they added the possibility of employers having vehicles available to pick up employees - I feel if they had this available in Duluth that many employees would take advantage of the opportunity, especially once the snow comes!
ReplyDeleteI also had the same objective as you and others in our group, however I chose a different bill. I find your bill quite interesting however, and agree with Sonny that by employers reimbursing their employees for these healthy options is a win for each side. If businesses are rewarded for doing these types of thing I think this could be something that would grow quite quickly in our community!
ReplyDeleteYours kind of goes hand in hand with mine, considering under my emerging issues the walking and bicycling transportation issue gets brought to everyone's attention. Mine goes in the direction of exercise, though, but I think both are equally important, we need clean air in order to feel safe walking from place to place.
ReplyDelete