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DC Streetcar Opens as a Monument to Morally Bankrupt Urban Planning
On Saturday, February 27, the DC Streetcar finally opened its 2.2-mile stretch on H Street and Benning Road N.E. Years delayed and for a cost…
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Up in the AIRR, Part 2: Unmanned Aircraft Systems
To date, CEI’s analysis of the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act (H.R. 4441) has largely focused on proposed air traffic control reforms, which CEI…
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Up in the AIRR, Part 1: Passenger Facility Charge Modernization
To date, CEI’s analysis of the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act (H.R. 4441) has focused on proposed air traffic control reforms, which CEI strongly…
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NYT Editorial Board Repeats Falsehoods on Air Traffic Control Reform
The New York Times editorial board has staked out a position on proposed air traffic control reform legislation, and it doesn’t like it. To anyone…
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House Committee Narrowly Approves Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Deadly E-Cigarette Science Denialism
Following three government reports in the 1980s highlighting the low cabin air quality caused by cigarette smoking and the health risks of passive smoke,…
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CEI Welcomes Obama Administration’s Automated Vehicle Push, With Caveats
The Obama administration’s plan to pump $4 billion over 10 years to “accelerate” the development and deployment of automated vehicles. How they exactly plan to…
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2016 Regulatory Schedule for the U.S. Department of Transportation
Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration’s two drone rulemakings got a lot of attention: their strange attempt to implement Congress’s airspace integration mandate and their unlawful…
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Automated Vehicles Update: California DMV Releases Draft Rules and Some Notes about that Crash Study
CALIFORNIA DMV AV OPPS RULES PROPOSED: On December 16, the California Department of Motor Vehicles released its draft licensing and operations rules for consumer automated vehicles,…
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FAA Releases Mandatory Drone Registration Interim Final Rule
On December 16, the FAA will publish its interim final rule (IFR) on Registration and Marking Requirements for Small Unmanned Aircraft in the Federal…
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FAST Act Debrief: A Few Policy Notes on the Latest Highway Bill
Last Friday, December 4, President Obama signed into law the FAST Act, which reauthorizes federal surface transportation programs through Fiscal Year 2020 to the tune…
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Problems with Mandatory Drone Registration
On Saturday, the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Registration Task Force issued its recommendations on a mandatory UAS registration proposal. The report is available here. On…
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Government Submits TSA Body Scanner Final Rule Schedule to Court
On October 23, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the Department of Homeland Security to produce a schedule for final rule…
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Barbara Boxer: Confirm PR Flak for Key Safety Role or the Transportation System Gets It
Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Sarah Feinberg to head the Federal Railroad Administration. Feinberg has been acting administrator since January. She replaced Joseph Szabo, who had…
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Court Rules against Government in TSA Body Scanner Case
Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled against the government in CEI’s challenge to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) illegal…
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Is a Drone Registration Mandate Illegal?
Today, the Department of Transportation announced the creation of a task force to develop recommendations for a national drone registration mandate. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx stated…
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Initial Thoughts on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act
This morning, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released its Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act. Unlike the Senate bill, which relies on imaginary pay-fors…
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Drone Policy Update: FAA Proposes $1.9m Fine, 3 More Bills Vetoed in California, and More
FAA PROPOSES RECORD FINE FOR UNAUTHORIZED UAS OPERATIONS: On October 6, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it was proposing a $1.9 million civil penalty against…
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No, Politicians Shouldn’t Outlaw Driving to Usher in Self-Driving Cars
Over at Fusion, Kevin Roose has what is perhaps the worst article on automated vehicles (AVs) I’ve ever seen. In it, he calls for a near-term…
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USDOT Wants it Both Ways with Off-Peak Freight Movements
Over at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fastlane blog, Greg Nadeau, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, has a post touting USDOT’s support for off-peak freight…
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Drone Policy Update: California Bill Vetoed, New Model Aircraft Guidance, and More
CALIFORNIA UAS BILL VETOED: On September 9, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed Senate Bill 142 that would have imposed trespass liability on unmanned aircraft system (UAS)…
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Did North Dakota Just Authorize Pepper-Spraying Police Drones?
The Daily Beast’s Justin Glawe has written an article about a North Dakota law aimed at limiting law enforcement use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or…
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New York Times Editorial Board Clueless on Smart Car Safety and Security
On Sunday, August 9, The New York Times ran an editorial, “Protecting Cars from Hackers,” discussing the recent publicized hacking incidents of Fiat Chrysler and Tesla vehicles, with…
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“Flypocalypse” Shows Air Traffic Control Too Important to Be Left to FAA
This past Saturday, hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled due to an air traffic control software glitch in the Washington, D.C. area. Naturally, #flypocalypse began…
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CEI Sues TSA for Violating Federal Law and Court Order on Body Scanners
Yesterday, July 15, 2015, CEI filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Our suit requests the court enforce its…
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Reimagining Surface Transportation Reauthorization: Pro-Market Recommendations for Policy Makers
Today, CEI published my white paper, “Reimagining Surface Transportation Reauthorization: Pro-Market Recommendations for Policy Makers.” In it, I lay out the case for making…
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Ten Years After Kelo v. New London
Ten years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision upholding the City of New London, Connecticut’s “right” to condemn Connecticut homeowners’…
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Long Mass Transit Commutes Are Horrible for Your Health
Joseph Stromberg at Vox.com has an article up arguing that “commuting alone by car” is “associated with obesity, high blood pressure, sleeplessness, and general unhappiness” relative…
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Yes, It Is Stupid to Blame Lack of Subsidies for Amtrak’s Derailment
This morning, Amtrak Northeast Regional service was finally reopened following last week’s tragic derailment in Philadelphia that has killed at least eight and injured approximately 200.
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New Tax Foundation Report Endorses PFC Modernization
The Tax Foundation today released a new report, “Improving Airport Funding to Meet the Needs of Passengers.” Authored by Tax Foundation economist Alan Cole, the…
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Why Is the Federal Government Threatening Times Square’s Billboards?
Colleagues tipped me off to an absurd news story about how the federal government is threatening to punish New York City for its famously gaudy Times…
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ERAM Deployed Five Years Late, NRC Blasts FAA on NextGen Delays
We saw two announcements on air traffic control modernization last week. The first was that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had finally completed its En Route…
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CEI Submits Comments to FAA on Small Drone Certification and Operations Proposed Rules
Today, I submitted comments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of CEI on its notice of proposed rulemaking for small unmanned…
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Google Now Opposes State Automated Vehicle Legislation?
Back in 2012, I warned that California’s bill (now law) that would explicitly recognize the legality of automated vehicles and order state regulators to develop a…
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Administration’s GROW AMERICA Act 2.0 Mixes Bad with Good
Today, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx unveiled the administration’s latest surface transportation reauthorization proposal. Like the previous White House bill, the latest iteration of the…
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Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform Are Wrong about Passenger Facility Charge
I saw some unfortunate news today: Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to Congress opposing a possible increase in the cap of the…
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Benning Road: The Last Refuge of Streetcar Apologists
Washington City Paper’s Housing Complex blogger Aaron Wiener has an unintentionally hilarious article on the slow-motion implosion of the D.C. Streetcar. But before I get to Wiener’s…
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How Not to Fix, and Fix, Federal Surface Transportation Policy
A lot of misinformation and scaremongering swells around transportation infrastructure policy in Washington. We are told our highway network is on the verge of collapse…
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Vapes on a Plane: More on Why DOT’s Proposed In-Flight E-Cigarette Ban Is Fatally Flawed
Over at CNN.com, I have a piece arguing against the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) forthcoming rule aimed at outlawing “vapes on a plane.” I explain why…
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What the U.S. Can Learn from Canada on Aviation Innovation
As I continue to digest the sUAS NPRM, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, I came across Canadian drone attorney Diana…
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First Thoughts on FAA’s Small Unmanned Aircraft System Proposed Rules
At 10am on Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced its draft rules to govern small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The announcement is not particularly surprising,…
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Ridesharing and Regulation
Earlier this week, I appeared on a Cato Institute panel organized by Cato’s Matthew Feeney, author of a new report on for-hire vehicle safety issues. Video…
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Transportation Roundup: Obama Budget, DOT 2045, and Sad Transcontinental Railroad Nostalgia
The President’s FY 2016 Budget On Monday, the White House released its DOA FY 2016 budget. Like President Obama’s previous budgets, this one has no…
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Invest in Transportation Act of 2015 Violates Fiscally Conservative Transportation Principles
It was just announced that Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) would introduce the Invest in Transportation Act of 2015. The bill aims to offer…
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Gas Tax Mission Creep: From User-Pays to Carbon Tax?
The Niskanen Center is a new libertarian think tank that we at CEI look forward to working with on a number of issues. However, one where…
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WSJ Editorial Board: Abolish the Federal Gas Tax
In recent days, a growing number of congressional Republicans have signaled a willingness to increase the federal excise tax rates on gasoline and diesel. As I…
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Automated Vehicles Update: Big Feature at CES, California Rules Delayed, Georgia Cautious on Regulation
It’s been a few months since I last checked in on automated vehicles (AVs), commonly called driverless cars or autonomous vehicles. Below are some developments of…
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Poll: Two-Thirds of Americans Oppose Federal Gas Tax Increase
A new poll from Benson Strategy Group and SKDKnickerbocker found that 67 percent of Americans oppose increasing the federal gasoline tax by 15 cents, or an…
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Rep. Tom Petri Invokes Bad Reagan Policy to Justify Increasing the Gas Tax
Yesterday, retiring Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wisc.) joined wacky Rep. Earl "United Streetcar" Blumenauer (D-Ore.) to endorse increasing the federal gasoline tax by 80 percent.
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United Streetcar: The Solyndra of Transportation
Over the weekend, The Washington Post published a fascinating article about the rise and fall of United Streetcar, an Oregon-based manufacturer that owes its very existence to the…
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Congress Needs to Act to Bring about a Drone Revolution
Earlier this morning, a full panel of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) overturned a previous ruling from an NTSB administrative law judge in the Pirker case. In Pirker, the…