SFGate, San Francisco Chronicle
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Washington -- House Republicans rolled out a $270 billion transportation bill Tuesday that would open the California coast to oil drilling and eliminate most bicycle and pedestrian programs. And that's just for starters.
The bill stands in defiance of a bipartisan effort produced by Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Despite Boxer's image as a partisan warrior, and the Senate's reputation for gridlock, Boxer worked closely with her GOP colleagues to produce a bill that passed her committee unanimously.
The House bill, by contrast, sets the stage for gridlock on multiple levels, including proposals to expand oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, increase the length and weight of trucks allowed on U.S. highways, and give Congress authority to approve construction of the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Wed, February 1, 2012
by John Cox