Perhaps it's fitting that President Obama used an "autopen" to sign the most recent extension to the federal surface transportation programs since it is millions of autos, and the drivers who operate them, that are impacted by Washington inaction on the issue.

The White House announced that since the president was traveling, it utilized an automated device known as an "autopen" to affix his signature on a temporary highway bill that extends funding through Dec. 4, the 15th such extension tacked on to the current expiring bill. Funding had been set run out Friday night.

Negotiations over a long-term bill, meanwhile, appeared to be finally moving along, after years of maddening gridlock and partisan bickering. Both the House and Senate have passed their own version of a long-term bill, and it is now in the hands of a joint conference committee to sort out the differences between the two bills and come up with a compromise that can get final approval by Congress and head to the president's desk for, presumably, a real signature.

The conference committee met on Nov. 18. The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) and other pro-transportation coalition partners continue to press for a long-term bill with stable sources of funding. Click HERE to view a NAPA letter to conferees on funding levels and key provisions. The Transportation Construction Coalition, of which NAPA is a participant, also weighed in HERE.

Pretty much everyone involved appear to be aiming for enactment of a multi-year highway bill sometime in December. The next major milestone is expected to come Nov. 30 when Conference Committee Chair Bill Schuster, R-PA, should file the official conference committee report. That, in turn, should be followed by quick votes by the House and Senate, forwarding the final bill to the president's desk.

An in-depth summary of the major provisions of the House and Senate bills that impact the asphalt pavement industry and are part of the negotiations to reconcile the two bills is HERE.

All along the major sticking point is how to pay for transportation

Let's put these guys to work.

programs. The venerable fuel tax has not been raised or adjusted since the 1990s, and anti-tax Republicans have been steadfast in their opposition to raising it, even as prices at the pump fall to historic lows when adjusted for inflation. Some non-traditional funding sources put forward by Republicans, including tapping into Federal Reserve money, have been criticized by some quarters as "budgetary dark arts" and "dangerous." Transportation expert Bob Poole of the Reason Foundation recently called the alternate funding proposals a "sick joke" that flies in the face of decades of pay-as-you-go" user-fees that were always bipartisan.

California has the largest delegation in Congress. It is not too late to urge your local representative to support prompt action on a long-term, adequately funded surface transportation bill. Click HERE to go to a special webpage set up by CalAPA member Astec Inc. that will allow you to look up your elected officials and send them a customized message urging prompt action.

A special tip of the hard hat to all those who have pitched in thus far to keep this issue at the forefront of the policy debate. The finish line is in sight. One final push should finally bring this long-distance race to a successful conclusion.

CalAPA has been participating the NOx RECLAIM Coalition as they review and comment on the proposed shave to the South Coast Air Quality Management District's RECLAIM Credit program.

There are approximately a dozen CalAPA members that are part of the RECLAIM credit program. As the SCAQMD gets closer to adopting the rule changes, the district delivered a revised proposal with changes that require analysis of the assumptions of Best Available Retrofit Control Technology (BARCT), compliance costs and impact to the rest of the RECLAIM community.

After two years and 12 working group meetings, the changes were presented in the November 4 revisions that would be presented to the Stationary Source Committee last Friday (Nov. 20). After the Coalition commented that this should be sent back to a working group meeting, a meeting notice was posted four days before the next working group.

CalAPA's Tony Grasso was among the Coalition partners to testify Friday about the need for timely notice, opportunity to analysis impact of the proposal, and the need to return it to the working group for response to the new items included in the 353 page revised proposal of Rule XX.

As the Air District prepares the 2016 Air Quality Management Plan changes to items like this and the CalAPA written comments on the White Paper on Off Road Equipment are issues that CalAPA, with the leadership of the association's Environmental Committee, is actively involved.

 

The fifth annual survey of asphalt producers' use of Greenhouse Gas-reducing materials, such as Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) and Reclaimed Asphalt Pavements (RAP) continue to show widespread use. Almost a third of all asphalt produced during the 2014 construction season utilized WMA technologies.

The survey was conducted in mid-2014. Results from 228 companies with 1,185 plants in all 50 states, along with data from State Asphalt Pavement Associations for 35 states, were used to compile the report. A full copy of the survey, as well as reports from previous years, including state-by-state appendixes, can be found HERE.