The New York Times recently reported:
"The United States can cut greenhouse gas emissions from transportation in half by 2050 with strategies ranging from cutting speed limits to imposing road pricing, according to a report released today by federal agencies and environmental and industry groups. . .
Transportation accounts for roughly 28 percent of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions, and the sector has been one of the fastest-growing in the past two decades — representing nearly half of the nation’s total increase in greenhouse emissions since 1990.
The sweeping energy and climate measure that the House passed last month, H.R. 2454, would require carbon dioxide emissions to drop 17 percent below 2005 levels and a total of 83 percent by 2050. The study released today finds that making the transportation sector more efficient is critical to meeting those goals. . .
If all goes according to plan for many advocates of transportation reform, the climate effort will draw the outlines of a policy that pushes Americans out of their personal vehicles and into trains and buses, leaving the door open for the reauthorization of the federal highway bill to provide massive amounts of cash to build and sustain alternative systems. . . "