Washington, DC – With record-high fuel prices and increasing concerns about the mounting impacts of global climate change, smarter community planning can help reduce the miles traveled in vehicles, reduce infrastructure costs and support more economically vibrant communities.

Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) Transportation Director Steve Winkelman testified today before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming in a hearing titled, “Planning Communities for a Changing Climate – Smart Growth, Public Demand and Private Opportunity.” The hearing examined examples of better development practices in the U.S. and around the world.

“Achieving the 60-80 percent reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change requires federal climate and transportation legislation to establish cleaner vehicles and fuels and reduce the rapid increase in the amount Americans drive each year,” Winkelman said. “Efficient land development patterns and access to transportation options that reduce the need to drive are critical if the U.S. is serious about climate security protection.”

During his testimony, Winkelman discussed the significance of vehicle efficiency, fuel GHGs and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as a "three-legged stool" that supports an overall transportation emissions reduction strategy. A CCAP analysis concludes that it is necessary to make progress on all three legs of the stool to meet GHG reduction goals. 

“Projected improvements in vehicles and fuels are determined to be insufficient to achieve climate goals due to forecasted growth in driving (measured as VMT),” Winkelman said. “This point is particularly pertinent to those industries that are typically in the crosshairs of regulation:
electricity generation, petroleum refining and vehicle manufacturing – if growth in driving is not addressed, then power, oil and car companies may face stiffer regulation.”

Winkelman also highlighted CCAP's most recent research and analysis on smart growth and climate change, including Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change — a report co-authored with the Urban Land Institute and Smart Growth America — and CCAP's proposal to ensure that federal transportation spending continues to reduce the nation's carbon footprint.

State, regional and local demand for more efficient and less automobile dependent growth and development is growing, but federal transportation policy sends the wrong signal by rewarding driving and fuel consumption instead of promoting system efficiency.  Additionally, projected growth in driving will overwhelm the CO2 savings from the fuel economy and renewable fuel requirements in the energy bill the President signed last year, Winkelman said. 

Working with leading stakeholders, CCAP is developing a policy proposal for incorporating VMT reduction into federal climate policy so that it rewards efficiency and provides tools and resources for communities to increase transportation choices. 

“In this package, CCAP proposes an incentive program that requires state and local governments to set goals to slow growth in VMT and GHG emissions, and provides federal resources to develop and implement them,” Winkelman said. “Different places will face different opportunities and challenges to increasing travel choices, improving transportation system efficiency and reducing VMT and GHG growth. CCAP anticipates a diversity of measures applicable to urban, suburban and rural areas ranging from infill development and transit improvements, to strategic bottleneck relief and intermodal freight.”

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For more information, watch the video of Winkelman's testimony.