INTRODUCTION

Energy conservation has become a forgotten topic in the emerging national discourse surrounding the reauthorization of our basic federal transportation law, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). This is a mistake, because inefficient transportation patterns are contributing mightily to our nation's growing appetite for foreign oil and to consumption-related emissions of greenhouse gases. Although many of the solutions must lie in locally chosen efficiency strategies, it is critical that the federal government retain a strong role in setting goals and benchmarks, creating incentives, and providing targeted funding assistance for local jurisdictions.

The marriage of locally chosen strategies to national efficiency goals was exactly the approach chosen by the bipartisan consensus that produced ISTEA in 1991. For the law's reauthorization, it is important that this approach be continued and strengthened. ISTEA alone cannot solve our energy problems, but its nonregulatory safeguards and efficiency-enhancing funding mechanisms remain a key component of the overall solution.^[1]

Notes

1. Valuable assistance in producing this paper was provided by Stacey Justus, John De Cicco, Allen Greenberg, Doug Howell, Dan Lashof, Heather Andersen and Don Chen. The conclusions are those of the author.