Our transportation system faces huge challenges. We rely on our transportation network for a healthy economy, and to get us to all the places we need to go each day. Yet we have too few clean, affordable transportation options to keep America moving. While traffic snarls our highways and rising gas prices remain a threat, transportation consumes 70 percent of the oil burned in the U.S. and creates nearly a third of our global warming pollution.
As a Transportation Policy Advocate with NRDC, I work to craft and implement policies that will help ensure that a new, Clean Energy Economy is running on clean transportation, meeting our nation’s mobility needs while reducing oil use and climate change impacts.
Prior to joining NRDC, I ran transportation campaigns for several other environmental groups, where I helped to stop major budget cuts to smart growth programs, public transit, and passenger rail. I am especially proud of my work coordinating the Smart Growth and Climate Change Coalition, which helped to advance federal smart growth and transportation measures as federal key greenhouse gas reduction strategies.
After getting my degree at the University of Virginia, I began my career in energy and climate change policy in Massachusetts, where I worked on renewable energy, power plant pollution, and energy efficiency.
Posted May 25, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Moving Beyond Oil, U.S. Law and Policy
After 18 months of dead ends and false starts in Congress, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee renewed hope that lawmakers might soon take action to overhaul our outdated federal transportation policy. The committee's leadership - two Democrats...continued→
Posted March 25, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Moving Beyond Oil
The Washington Post offers a helpful set of myths and facts about what's driving oil prices upward. Two key points: 1. Developing domestic supply won't bring down domestic prices. Even if domestic supplies were developed, American presidents...continued→
Posted March 21, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Moving Beyond Oil
Gas prices across the country are rising, and that has most Americans concerned. And rightly so - the painful impacts of rising gas prices are very real for families and businesses across the country. However, while gas is...continued→
Posted March 15, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Rising gasoline prices are driven by a demand issue, not a supply problem. But gas prices also influence the demand for different types of transportation. In particular, when gas prices go up, people drive less and use public transit...continued→
Posted March 13, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
Matthew Yglesias has is exactly right on the global nature of oil and gasoline prices: Oil is produced and consumed in particular places, but there’s a single worldwide price of oil that’s determined by global supply and global...continued→
Posted March 10, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil
When it comes to gas prices, it's not just how much you pay, it's how often you buy. And driving less saves you money - a lot of it, in fact. Driving is expensive, and oftentimes cleaner alternatives are also more affordable....continued→
Posted March 7, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Last week, I wrote about this year's uptick in nationwide driving rates. In particular, I asked whether the regions that had begun to invest more in expanding transportation options rather than ever-expanding highways might be bucking the broader...continued→
Posted March 2, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
Auto use in the U.S. plunged during the record high gas prices we saw a few years ago. But driving has been steadily creeping back up, and the Department of Transportation announced today that American's drove about 3 trillion...continued→
Posted February 17, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Living Sustainably, U.S. Law and Policy
Since the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system was being conceived back in the 40s and 50s, the public, businesses, and government leaders throughout the region have wanted to connect San Jose to Oakland and, across the Bay,...continued→
Posted February 14, 2011 by Colin Peppard in U.S. Law and Policy
Americans agree that we need to tighten our fiscal belt to deal with rising budget deficits. However, they also believe that cuts must be made strategically to ensure that we continue to invest in the future of...continued→
Posted January 4, 2011 by Colin Peppard in Moving Beyond Oil, U.S. Law and Policy
Much has been written about the massive gap between what America actually spends on infrastructure, and what needs to be spent in order to keep the system we've built over generations in a state of good repair while also...continued→
Posted December 14, 2010 by Colin Peppard in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
While it's no secret that carbon pollution has risen steadily in recent decades, increasing 27 percent between 1990 and 2007, it isn't as well known that nearly half of that net increase has been due to increasing emissions from the transportation sector....continued→
Posted December 13, 2010 by Colin Peppard in Curbing Pollution, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Many of us are concerned with carbon pollution from transportation. It’s the second largest source of emissions in the United States, and it’s been among the fastest growing for years. Often advocates focus on the federal transportation bill as a...continued→
Posted May 26, 2010 by Colin Peppard in Curbing Pollution, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
With millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico each day, increasing scientific urgency for action on climate change, and a new study that shows how clean energy can create millions of jobs over the next ten...continued→
Posted April 26, 2010 by Colin Peppard in Curbing Pollution, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Infrastructurist brings us another excellent infographic from Martha Kang McGill today. The graphic shows gasoline consumption by state both overall and per capita. The statewide numbers are not terribly surprising - more populous states obviously use more gasoline. But the per...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
