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Administration Task Force to Review 9/11 Commission's Recommendations

President Bush has appointed a task force to review the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations and may act within days on some of them, according to White House spokesperson Clare Buchan. She declined to say which of the more than 40 recommendations Bush was likely to adopt or if he would make his own proposals. Bush is vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, TX.

Congress adjourned for August recess without reaching an agreement on the highway reauthorization bill. Despite several 11th hour meetings, no compromise was reached that was agreeable to the House, Senate and the Administration. Funding levels remained the major challenge to passage of a bill and (despite focusing discussions on non-controversial policy issues) when Congress adjourned on July 22 recommended spending ranged from the Administration's $256 billion proposal to the House's $278 billion bill and the Senate's $318 billion legislation.

Faced with a stalemate in negotiations Congress recently agreed to a one-month extension of the current transportation law prior to its expiration in June. Congress will reconvene on September 7.

ATA, which supports the highest funding level available without tax increases, has identified 22 legislative priorities within the highway reauthorization debate and continues to follow this issue very closely. For more information, contact Darrin Roth at (703) 838-1900 or droth@trucking.org.

Homeland Security Committee Will Cut Break Short to Take Up 9/11 Findings

Starting on August 16, members of the panel of the House Homeland Security Committee will begin investigating the findings of the 9/11 Commission, a timeline that halves the August break. The first session in its series of hearings will focus on information analysis and sharing, and future meetings will address border protection, science and technology, emergency response, and the PATRIOT Act. Committee Chairman Chris Cox, R-CA., is following the urgings of House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay, to take up the commission report as soon as possible during the August recess and report back with ideas for legislation by September.

ATA's Highway Watch Program and the Highway Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Highway ISAC) have engaged in a number of initiatives cooperatively with the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration that have significantly increase sector involvement in continuous readiness and information sharing in today's threats to the environment.

Department of Energy

Eight Nation Partnership to Harvest Methane Emissions for Sale as Clean Burning Fuel

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that the United States will join efforts with Australia, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom, and Ukraine to develop and promote cooperation on the recovery and use of methane. The Methane to Markets Partnership aims to deliver significant energy, safety, and environmental benefits through the recovery and use of methane, while reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The partnership will focus on deploying cost-effective technologies in landfill gas-to-energy projects, methane recovery projects at coal mines, and improvements in natural gas systems. The partnership has the potential to reduce net methane emissions by up to 50 million metric tons of carbon equivalent annually by 2015 and continue at that level or higher in the future. This would be the carbon equivalent of removing 33 million cars from roadways for one year or eliminating emissions from fifty 500 MW coal-fired power plants.

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