In his budget delivered to Congress, President Obama proposed a new few oil companies that would assess $10 for every barrel of oil both domestically extracted as well as imports. The fee would be phased in over five years and the money raised by it could then be used to fund repairs on America’s aging transportation infrastructure, and clean transportation research and development. Such as building high-speed rail, more environmentally friendly airplanes, electric-car charging stations, and improving electric vehicles. The president’s goal is a “clean transportation” system.
The White House released a fact sheet describing the president’s plan for a 21st Century Clean Transportation System, characterizing it as “smart, strategic integrated investments to help reduce carbon pollution, strengthen [the] economy.”
Today, our transportation sector accounts for 30 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. A new approach to our transportation system can help to speed goods to market, expand transportation options, and integrate new technologies like autonomous – or self-driving – vehicles while at the same time reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, cutting carbon pollution, and strengthening our resilience to the impacts of climate change.