Sign-on to letter opposing the House Surface Transportation Extension
Dear Representative,
On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, we urge you to oppose the “Surface Transportation Extension Act, Part II” and to take up and pass the bipartisan Senate transportation bill, H.R. 14, without adding divisive changes.
Instead of investing in America’s transportation infrastructure and creating a modern transportation system, the Surface Transportation Extension Act would kick the can down the road by extending the current transportation bill for another 3 months. Further, the bill seeks to tie a poison pill to a bipartisan transportation bill – though the automatic permitting of the dirty and dangerous Keystone XL pipeline. As construction season begins, this bill makes it clear that House leaders are more concerned with building Big Oil’s profits than providing cities and states with the certainty needed to build a safe, modern transportation system.
The Senate’s bipartisan transportation bill, S. 1813, would protect 3 million American jobs and make significant improvements in our nation’s infrastructure. This bill, which passed the Senate earlier this year with an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority of 74-22, would take critical steps to reduce our dependence on oil and move our transportation system into the 21st century.
Rising gas prices have made our dependence on oil painfully clear. At the same time, our roads, bridges and transit systems are in dire need of repair. It is critical that Congress show real leadership by investing in our nation’s transportation system – both repairing our current infrastructure and expanding access to clean, convenient transportation options such as transit, biking and walking. Tacking on controversial provisions like an approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline do nothing to address our nation’s transportation needs and cater only to the profits of Big Oil, threatening the passage of any transportation legislation, all while 3 million American jobs hang in the balance.
For these reasons, we urge you to reject the Surface Transportation Extension Act, to take up HR 14, the bipartisan transportation bill already overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. Senate.
Sincerely,
Bold Nebraska
Center for Biological Diversity
Chesapeake Climate Action Network Clean Water Action
Ecology Center
Environment America
Friends Committee on National Legislation
League of Conservation Voters
Natural Resources Defense Council
Safe Climate Campaign
Sierra Club
Southern Environmental Law Center
US Climate Action Network
Western Nebraska Resources Council
Western Organization of Resource Councils
350.org
