|
|
| Nonprofit founded in 1988 |
|
|
Green
Scissors Leaders Re-emerge WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 12óA taxpayer-environmentalist coalition today called for a halt to 22 wasteful and environmentally destructive highway projects in 15 states. According to the coalition, putting the brakes on these unneeded projects would save $10 billion in federal tax dollars, protect the environment, and help preserve local communities. The 22 projects are detailed in Road to Ruin, a new report by Taxpayers for Common Sense, Friends of the Earth and U.S. Public Research Interest Groupóleaders of the Green Scissors Campaign. When APM's central office heard about the new Taxpayers for Common Sense last year, we suggested it go after roads. Everyone should be grateful it did. Since the peace dividend has not materialized, economic conversion of our oil/car infrastructure is doubly nigh. APM will cosponsor the next Road to Ruin Report, which is already in progress. The report's release today kicks off a national campaign that includes taxpayer, environmental and grassroots groups united to kill unnecessary road projects like those detailed in Road to Ruin. The projects include:
Route 6 Expressway, Eastern Conn. Many of the proposed roads described in the report face significant local opposition from neighborhood groups of local governments. The report says that new "highways are poor neighbors" that can divide communities, hurt Main Street businesses, and shift residents and tax base elsewhere. Instead of building the new road projects as proposed, the report recommends exploring cheaper, less destructive alternatives to deal over the long term with transportation problems. Many of the projects are intended to relieve short-term traffic congestion. But the report says the 22 new or enlarged highway projects could encourage more development and urban sprawl that eventually draws more traffic. In addition, the projects would aggravate other problems and are not the best solution. Unfortunately, coverage of the I-69 expansion in the report is limited to southwest Indiana, while the U.S. portion of the project extends from Laredo, Tex., to Port Huron, Mi. It is by far the largest and most damaging project in the report, although absent from the report's "Featured Five." NAFTA goes unmentioned in the report, too, though the I-69 extension is known to most as the NAFTA Superhighway (see p. 9). If built, it will cost billions more than the Indiana segment alone. Copies of the full Road to Ruin report are available free of charge to the media or for $10 to others. Contact Taxpayers for Common Sense at (202) 546-8500. |
|
|
|
