Friday, July 29, 2005

"Conservation by bicycling" in Energy Bill

Jonathan pointed me to this little bit of news. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, as amended and agreed by the House and Senate, contains provision a "Conserve by Bicycling." This will be a Department of Transportation program to "use education and marketing to convert motor vehicle trips to bicycle trips; document project results and energy savings (in estimated units of energy conserved); facilitate partnerships among interested parties...; maximize bicycle facility investments; demonstrate methods that may be used in other regions of the United States; and facilitate the continuation of ongoing programs that are sustained by local resources." Any local project must have a 20% match from non-Federal funds. This act gives $6.2 million dollars to the DOT for this project of which "$5,150,000 shall be used to carry out pilot projects; $300,000 shall be used by the Secretary to coordinate, publicize, and disseminate the results of the program; and $750,000 shall be used to" document the results of the pilot programs.

To read the entire bill, visit Thomas, click on the final version of HR 6, and look for "SEC. 732" or just "bicycling." This bill is supposed to be signed by President Bush over the next few days. It should be interesting.

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