In this NPR interview, Michael Replogle, Environmental Defense Fund's transportation director, points to a 12-lane highway that will be built with stimulus funds that he says exacerbates our dependence on foreign oil and global warming.
Standing on an overpass of Interstate 95, Replogle explains: "This will then be a 12-lane highway, and in some places - where there are off ramps and on ramps - it will be 14 lanes wide."
"Replogle says spending stimulus money to widen I-95 and on other new highways around the country will mean more cars, more development and more greenhouse gas pollution."
"It's not the kind of investment we need to be making in the 21st century, particularly when we have good leadership in the state and federal level that is calling on us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to get serious about the severe climate change challenge that is ahead of us," Replogle says.
"Administration officials say road projects meet the primary objective of the stimulus package because they're ready to go, so the money can be spent quickly to help kick-start the economy."
"In developing the stimulus package, shovel-ready was absolutely important," says Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change. "The infrastructure, as we all know, across our country is in serious need of attention. We can create jobs immediately through these projects."
Thanks to Steetsblog Daily
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