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Editor’s Note: This edition of Morning Transportation is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Transportation subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. Learn more about POLITICO Pro’s comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, at politicopro.com.
Quick Fix
— House Democrats are planning another hearing on the Boeing 737 MAX next week, with FAA Administrator Steve Dickson set to testify.
— Tolling, done right, could line up with conservative principles, argues a new paper from think tank the Reason Foundation.
— The only privately owned passenger railroad in the country is wrestling with a highest-in-the-U.S. death rate on its tracks.
IT’S TUESDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO's Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. As you read this, the odds are pretty good that your host is fighting his way through New England wintry mix, stranded at Logan, or hitting 30,000 feet en route back to D.C. Get in touch with travel commiseration, tips, feedback or song lyric suggestions at smintz@politico.com or @samjmintz.
“Would you know we're riding / On the Marrakesh Express / Would you know we're riding / On the Marrakesh Express / All on board that train.” (h/t Karen Hedlund)
LISTEN HERE: Follow MT’s playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with songs (picked by us and readers) about roads, rails, rivers and runways.
Aviation
DICKSON HEADING TO THE HILL: The FAA chief will testify Dec. 11 at a House Transportation Committee hearing on the MAX. It’ll be the first time Dickson has appeared at a hearing on the jet and its certification. Dickson became the agency’s permanent head in August, five months after the second MAX crash that grounded the plane.
Who else? The committee said other witnesses will be announced later. T&I Republicans want to hear from people who were leaders at the FAA at the time of the MAX’s certification, arguing that they are best placed to answer questions about the agency’s approval of the plane. Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he agrees with that logic but hasn’t committed to pulling in past FAA officials — who now may be retired or working in the private sector — for a hearing that will likely be tough for the agency.
The hearing also suggests the committee’s investigation of two 737 MAX crashes is advancing. DeFazio said recently that hearing from the FAA in a formal setting will be a key factor in deciding how he wants to move forward with legislation.
Meanwhile, in the Senate: A spokesperson for the Senate Commerce Committee noted that Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) wants to hold a hearing focused on the FAA in the future, but the panel will likely “wait until the bulk of the ongoing investigations are complete so as to have the most informative hearing possible."
FALLING OUT OF THE SKY: The FAA is investigating after an evacuation slide fell off a Delta plane and into a Massachusetts backyard on Sunday. The flight from Paris landed safely at Boston Logan International Airport, but without its right rear slide, the Boston Globe reports. Delta said in a statement that it is looking into “an inflatable over-wing slide that was retrieved following an aircraft’s landing into Boston’s Logan Airport. The flight landed without incident and taxied to the gate under its own power.”
Highways
A CONSERVATIVE CASE FOR TOLLING: In a new brief, Robert Poole, head of transportation policy at the libertarian Reason Foundation, lays out a “conservative case for highway tolling,” a policy solution often attacked from the right. Poole calls his approach “value added tolling.” Theoretically, Poole argues, as a pure user fee, tolling is in line with conservative principles, but he says some conservative criticism of the ways it’s been carried out are valid.
Proposed fixes: The paper argues that drivers should be charged either a toll or a gas tax, but not both for the same highway or bridge. This could be accomplished with a rebate for the portion of their state fuel tax incurred while on the new infrastructure. Poole also says tolling should begin only after a new facility is complete and users can benefit from it. All toll revenues should go to the tolled facilities, without being diverted. Two final points: Builders should guarantee maintenance for the life of the facility, and the costs of toll collection should be limited as much as possible by getting as many drivers as possible to sign up for prepaid accounts, and using technology including smartphones.
The benefits: Long term for major projects, a “fairer system of highway funding,” and a reduction in the backlog of projects.
Interest on the Hill: Poole writes that “several members of Congress, one of whom is a staunch conservative, have expressed interest in this approach.”
Rail
FLORIDA RAILROAD WRESTLES WITH DEATHS ON ITS TRACKS: Brightline in Florida, the only privately operated passenger rail line in the country, has the highest per-mile death rate of any of the 821 railroads operating in the U.S., according to an Associated Press investigation. None of the more than 40 fatalities on Brightline’s tracks since it launched in January 2018 have been found to be caused by operator error or faulty equipment, and most are suicides, but the company’s CEO told the AP that it’s something they “obsess” over fixing regardless.
Some of the steps Brightline is taking include: Working with suicide prevention groups and experimenting with infrared motion detectors and drones to patrol tracks. “The company is also erecting fences and plant barriers in problem areas, putting up four-way gates at major road crossings and talking with cities about eliminating side-street crossings,” writes the AP’s Terry Spencer.
Security
CUSTOMS AGENTS PLANNING TO BOOST USE OF VEHICLE SCANNERS AT SOUTHWEST BORDER: CBP is planning to greatly increase its use of scanning technology for inspecting vehicles at land ports of entry along the southwest border in the next few years, our Stephanie Beasley reports. The aim is to reduce wait times by using more of the non-intrusive inspection scanners, said Hector Mancha, the agency’s director of field operations in El Paso. Lawmakers, meanwhile, are questioning whether staffing shortages will continue to undermine CBP’s efforts to keep trade and travel flowing at the border, Stephanie writes. CBP is currently about 107 Customs agents short of its authorized staff level, but it needs 1,600 more agents to keep up with its current workload.
Surface Transportation
MAILBAG: Three groups representing most of the retail motor fuel sales in the U.S. wrote to House Transportation Committee leaders asking them to incentivize investment in alternative fuels and not let utilities use ratepayer dollars to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Shifting Gears
Harrison Wadsworth, director of government affairs for Siemens, has joined the board of directors at the Railway Supply Institute, replacing his retired Siemens colleague John Paljug.
The Autobahn
— “Maryland airport goes to court after getting booted from federal subsidy program.” The Washington Post.
— “Idaho community mourns 9 relatives killed in plane crash.” Associated Press.
— “Off the radar: U.S. CEOs' jet perks add millions to corporate tax bills.” Reuters.
— “Rep. Duncan Hunter to plead guilty in campaign finance violations case.” POLITICO.
— “Winter storm hits Northeast, continues to disrupt holiday travel.” Wall Street Journal.
The Countdown
DOT appropriations run out in 17 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,398 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 303 days.
"line" - Google News
December 03, 2019 at 07:00AM
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House Democrats line up hearing on FAA, 737 MAX - Politico
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