Engineering Inc. - September/October 2004 - 12

Safety continues to be a serious problem. In 2002, nearly 43,000 people
died on our nation's highways. It repre- sents the single greatest cause
of a c c i d e n t a l death in America. Our highways also are experi- e n
c i n g unacceptable levels of congestion. T h e bill allows us to better
address the donor state issue by returning to the states a greater
percentage of dollars that they contribute to the Highway Trust Fu n d .
This is something that h i t s home with me, since my ACEC Chairman Bill
Howard right and ACEC President Dave Raymond left meet with Senator Inhofe
moments state of Oklahoma has been a before he chaired the last meeting of
the TEA-21 Conferees prior to Congress' adjournment for the summer. d o n
o r state for many, many Loan Fund programs. As a for- transportation
projects. This has years. Finally, the Department of c a n pass a bill
with the same FORREST MACCORMACK mer mayor [of Tulsa], you know been a
long-standing priority for Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n estimates that
deficit impact as the President's f i r s t - h a n d the importance of
ACEC. What are your principle every $1 billion in new federal proposal,
with significantly bet- addressing local water infrastruc- priorities in
this area as you pro- i n ve s t m e n t creates more than ter funding
levels. That would ture needs. What do you see as ceed with the conference
with 47,500 jobs. This bill would be be the fiscally responsible and the
key issues in getting this leg- the House? a tremendous help to the recov-
correct thing to do. i s l a t i o n passed? How can the ering economy. I N
H O F E : M y principal goal e n g i n e e r i n g community help T h e
White House has ex- remains making sure we shorten you in this regard?
pressed strong concerns and I cer- Some very t h e overall time it takes
to tainly respect [its] desire for fiscal influential I N H O F E : My
goal was to get a deliver a project. As I'm sure you constraint. That is
why Senate individuals have clean bill through the commit- know, in order
to get an agree- conferees support adding an addi- tee, with strong
bipartisan sup- ment on the Senate bill, we had tional $8 billion in
budget offsets made it clear that port, that would provide much- t o
accept some provisions to to the Senate-passed bill. Once the House will
not n e e d e d resources to local make the planning process a bit
included, the Senate bill will have communities who are struggling m o re
robust. That would not essentially the same deficit impact consider a bill
w i t h aging infrastructure and have been my preference, but I a s the
President's proposal of above $275 ever-increasing regulatory costs.
agreed because we also were able $256 billion. Senate bill 2550
accomplishes to provide transportation offi- Again, I am very proud of the
billion. As in many of my policy objectives, cials with tools to avoid
unnec- Senate bill and strongly believe any conference, it the primary one
of which was essary delays during the environ- that it is the right thing
to do. resources with no new mandates mental review stage. In my view, How
e v e r, there is a challenge will be necessary on cities and towns. this
should serve to shorten the b e f o r e the conference with for everyone
to Passage of a water infrastruc- o v e r a l l time it takes to get a re
s p e c t to the overall funding ture bill has been a priority for highway
built. What comes out level. Some very influential indi- compromise. this
committee for the past two of conference negotiations also viduals have
made it clear that Senator James Inhofe Congresses. Now that we have a
should work to shorten project the House will not consider a bipar tisan
bill that gives local delivery time. bill above $275 billion. As in any
communities resources with no conference, it will be necessary HOWARD: In
June, your commit- strings, it is time to go beyond for everyone to
compromise. ACEC PRESIDENT DAVE RAYMOND: tee passed a water infrastructure
On e of your priorities on the t h e committee, toward enact- As chairman
of the Commit- bill totaling $41 billion and pro- regulatory side is
improving the ment. The engineering commu- tee on Environment and Public
vided a much-needed boost to environmental review process to nity can
[ask] its members to call Wo r k s , I am committed to t h e Clean Water
and Safe eliminate unnecessary delays in their individual senators and
tell doing the very best in reautho- Drinking Water State Revolving m ov i
n g forward with needed them how important this legisla- rizing TEA-21. I
believe that we 1 2 E N G I N E E R I N G INC. S e p t e m b e r l October
2004
Engineering Inc. - September/October 2004

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