Fellow Members of CARD,
Sometimes the bread lands butter side up!!!!!!!!!
Sunday Sens. Chichester and Gartlan added a budget amendment regarding the WTC. Essentially it says that no more money can be spent on the WTC for an EIS or anything else until the federal agencies have scrutinized the proposal!!!!!!!!! Sens. Saslaw and Barry were infuriated and threatened to take it to a floor fight which they did this afternoon and they lost 32 to 7. (Absent was Sen. Gartlan due to the death of his sister.) The language was in the "fine print" and such has never been removed on the floor, so it was a technical issue as well. Sen. Colgan came to bat for us today along with Sens. Chichester and Wampler.
The dissenting senators were Barry, Saslaw, Howell, Woods, Mims, Potts, and Reasor.
The next venue will be the conference committee, increased this session from 8 to 12 members due to the new power-sharing. Sens. Chichester, Wampler, Colgan, and, we think, Gartlan will be on the conference committee. The development community was down in Richmond doing their best to undo this. Til Hazel, who was down there before for a whole week lobbying against SB-628, had gone on his way to New Zealand for vacation.
Some may think this is a small victory, but it forces VDOT and the CTB to put all the cards on the table. The federal agencies have already questioned the need and purpose which is the hurdle any project must jump to proceed to the next step. There is good possibility that this project just won't make the cut!
Martha
Department of Transportation
Language:
Page 309, after line 23, insert "H. The Department of Transportation shall continue its Major Investment Study of the proposed Western Transportation Corridor in cooperation with the National Park Service, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations (23 CFR Part 450). No funds appropriated by this Act, or otherwise available to the Department of Transportation, shall be expended on environmental studies, preliminary engineering, or any other analysis of the Western Transportation Corridor as part of any process required by the National Environmental Protection Act until the MIS of the Western Corridor is completed in cooperation with the National Park Service, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the United States Marine Corps, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Explanation:
This amendment is self explanatory:
The Til Hazel/Board of Trade/NVBIA forces and Senators Barry and Saslaw are mounting an unprecended attack on Senator Chichester and Senator Gartlan´s Budget Amendment - OUR AMENDMENT! IF WE BEAT THEM AND GET THIS THROUGH IT WILL BE A HUGE VICTORY!
Background: The Chichster/Gartlan budget amendment would continue (reopen) the Major Investment Study for the Western Transportation Corridor and require VDOT to bring the EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, National Parks Service, and Marine Corps into the study. Until this happens, VDOT will not be allowed to spend money for the Environmental Impact Study.
You will recall that the federal agencies have concluded that the VDOT study failed to provide the "purpose and need" for the highway. Rather than waste money on the EIS, continuing the MIS will allow all the agencies to cooperate in a fact based inquiry that will correct errors in the MIS (and we are confident that it will show the road is not needed).
Messages:
2. a. This budget language should not be removed from the Budget Bill. Never before in the history of the General Assembly has "fine print" language been removed from the budget bill.
b. It would be inappropriate to remove this language in the floor debate--it should be properly considered when the Budget Bill reaches the Senate/House Conference Committee.
Contact Information
Thanks:
Opponents:
Return the CARD home page.
1. We support Senator Chichester´s and Sen. Gartlan´s budget amendment for the Western Transportation Corridor Major Investment Study. (KEY MESSAGE)
Senator Whipple 804-698-7531 email SWhipple@leg.state.va.us
Senator Ticer 804-698-7530 email STicer@leg.state.va.us
Senator Colgan 804-698-7529 email SColgan@leg.state.va.us
Senator Howell 804-698-7532 email SHowell@leg.state.va.us
Senator Woods 804-698-7534 email SWoods@leg.state.va.us
Senator Mims 804-698-7533 email SMims@leg.state.va.us
Senator Houck 804-698-7517 email SHouck@leg.state.va.us
Senator Chichester 804-698-7528 email SChichester@leg.state.va.us
Senator Gartlan 804-698-7536 email SGartlan@leg.state.va.us
Senator Barry 804-698-7537 email SBarry@leg.state.va.us
Senator Saslaw 804-698-7535 email SSaslaw@leg.state.va.us
Finally, in other news the Board of Directors of CARD has decided to continue this Web Site for another year. We are going to be here for you the members. Further, we are going to be working a major revision to the site in the month of March to make the site more streamlined, easier to use, and hopefully to provide more reference material for you the members. Suggestions? E-mail them to the web guys--and now would be a really good time to do that as we get started.