Toll projects are inherently risky and the best way to deal with that riskiness is to shift it from general taxpayers to sophisticated investors who are prepared to balance the occasional loss in exchange for solid long-term returns in other cases.
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A recent report from the Reason Foundation lays out seven suggestions – from HOT lanes to telecommuting - that will help improve the nation’s transportation system at a taxpayer-friendly cost.
Despite a lack of evidence to support their assertions, EPA continues to insist that mercury emissions from US power plants pose a significant risk. This line of thinking poses great harm to the affordability of electricity.
"The EPA used heavy-handed tactics with states, flawed models and showed a disregard for costs in developing a new Bay cleanup plan, members of Congress and the agricultural community charged at a recent hearing," claims the Chesapeake Bay Journal in the April, 2011, edition.
The discussion over possible tolling of the Interstates has everyone singing the same song: “New capacity yes -- existing capacity no.” But that position ignores by far the most important role that tolling could play in America’s highway infrastructure: reconstructing worn-out Interstates.
Taken together, everything EPA is doing to tax and penalize coal use will result in huge increases in electricity prices that will hammer family budgets, especially in minority communities, impair nutrition and health and make it harder for many to heat, cool and pay for their homes.