Subject: POLITICO's Morning Transportation: NTSB and DOT go head-to-head on WMATA oversight — FAA suggests flexible funding on airport rail projects — Trucking Alliance opposes controversial THUD rider
From: Morning Transportation <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 4 May 2016 08:01:59 -0600

By Martine Powers | 05/04/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With help from Lauren Gardner and Cogan Schneier

NTSB AND DOT GO HEAD-TO-HEAD ON WMATA OVERSIGHT: The National Transportation Safety Board's five-hour meeting on the L'Enfant Plaza tragedy on Tuesday started as a critique of inadequate WMATA and local safety oversight (more on that below). Then it morphed into a veritable NTSB vs. DOT smackdown in which NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart lambasted the federal government for failing to provide proper oversight time and time again and the DOT lobbed responses right back, accusing the NTSB of being overly fixated on putting oversight responsibilities into the hands of the Federal Railroad Administration instead of the Federal Transit Administration. Now here's the big question: Will DOT budge?
 It doesn't seem likely: "I have no uncertainties about the FTA-WMATA safety oversight role," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx wrote in a letter to Hart, released moments after the conclusion of the meeting.

What's the deal with the FRA? Our Lauren Gardner explains why there's such a strong push to hand over the oversight reins to the FRA: First and foremost, the agency can levy fines on railroads, an enforcement stick that FTA doesn't have. "MAP-21 granted FTA greater regulatory authority over the nation's transit systems, but NTSB staffer Michael Hiller said it didn't end the agency's reliance on states to oversee them," Lauren writes. "Foxx and FTA officials argue the agency's power to withhold federal funding from transit agencies, or to direct the money to be spent on safety-specific needs, is an influential tool. But even former acting Administrator Therese McMillan conceded to POLITICO
 last year that having the ability to levy hefty penalties would be useful. ... Nothing would force a transit agency to adopt [FTA's safety] standards - and even if they did, there would be nothing compelling them to correct any discrepancies. Meanwhile, FRA has uniform minimum standards for commuter railroads, plus a nationwide network of inspectors, NTSB lead investigator Joe Gordon said."

NOT GONNA HAPPEN, FOXX SAYS: The NTSB's full report and recommendations on the January 2015 incident won't be available for several weeks, as agency staff tidy up final details. But Foxx was already quick to offer a defense, saying he wouldn't have been able to give the FRA permanent oversight of WMATA without an act of Congress anyway. "Had we taken the NTSB recommendations whole cloth, it is entirely possible that we would still be awaiting such congressional action and that the many oversight activities already undertaken by the FTA would not have happened in that vacuum," Foxx said. "In my judgment, we have taken the substance of the NTSB recommendations using the fastest, most
 effective method available to us." And if that wasn't enough, a DOT spokesman said the department can't just "flip a switch and move safety oversight to the FRA," adding, "We find the NTSB's continued fixation with FRA oversight confounding and counterproductive."

Throwing some serious shade: Hart's closing statement seemed aimed directly at Foxx, who said three months ago that "baby-sitting the safety oversight of WMATA is not one of our most prized things to be doing. ... It is meant to be a limited mission." Hart, apparently, was unimpressed by that statement. "The Department of Transportation has emphasized the temporary nature of direct FTA safety oversight over WMATA, at one point referring to this role as 'baby-sitting,'" Hart told the room full of agency officials and reporters on Tuesday. "Safety oversight is not baby-sitting. It is an ongoing, far-reaching responsibility." Sounds like Hart doesn't want DOT to drop the "babysitting" gig
 anytime soon.

IT'S WEDNESDAY: Good morning and thanks for tuning into POLITICO's Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports.

After all that talk yesterday's about through-the-roof airline profits, loyal MT reader Ben Cornelius brought our attention to this timely installment of the comic strip "Pearls Before Swine" from Monday: bit.ly/1NTSGlu. Send tips/greetings/comics to [email-masked] or @martinepowers.

"I be pullin' up stuff in the Phantom ship / I got plenty of stuff of Bugatti whip, look how I drive."

THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM: NTSB investigators determined that the cause of the smoke incident was a prolonged short circuit - made possible by a pattern of inadequate inspections and deferred upkeep - that burned power components. They said it had been clear for years that tunnel and train ventilation systems were inadequate, but WMATA officials had ignored warnings to update the system and staff members were not sufficiently trained on how to properly employ the fans in an emergency. The board also outlined a series of communications problems that prevented emergency responders from reaching the affected train more quickly, and prolonged the time during which the train stayed immobile inside
 the smoke-filled tunnel. The four-member board unanimously agreed that WMATA's senior management failed to proactively manage safety risks.

REACTIONS FROM THE HILL: Sen. Barbara Mikulski, on the NTSB's findings: "Most disturbing ... is that the NTSB had flagged many of these safety gaps in previous investigations - and yet Metro failed to take action. ... Now we need a rapid response from Metro to implement these recommendations."

Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine: "These steps must be the start of a sustained effort to overhaul Metro. ... As Congress grapples with the long-term federal role in funding Metro, the best case we could make to our colleagues would be tangible progress by WMATA management on addressing every deficiency identified in this report."

A packed agenda: D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton says she plans to talk with the FRA about the NTSB's findings and recommendations, along with their follow-up to the CSX derailment, during her meeting with the agency today. She's also planning on a meeting with Foxx.

FUNDING FOR RAIL PROJECTS SHOULD BE MORE FLEXIBLE, FAA SUGGESTS: The FAA is seeking public comment after releasing a Federal Register notice on proposed changes to how airport passenger facility charges can be used for airport rail projects. Currently, PFC funds can only be spent on rail projects that are used by airport customers and employees exclusively; under a new proposal, that criteria would be more flexible. "Based on the FAA's experience, the agency believes the current eligibility criteria for PFC funding of rail projects may be too stringent and should be reevaluated," the FAA wrote in a statement. "The proposed policy change may provide greater access to the nation's airports
 through intermodal transportation connections."

NOT-SO-EASY RIDER: The Trucking Alliance says it opposes the controversial trucking rider in the Senate's THUD appropriations bill. "The alliance supports the technical correction language in the first sentence but prefers that Congress not codify the second sentence which goes into the 73 hour in a day period phrase. We are urging the House Appropriations Committee to avoid inserting this language as well," the group said in a statement.

" ... Congress has mandated that interstate trucking companies install electronic logging devices by December 2017 to verify truck driver hours-of-service compliance. The statistical data produced by this technology should guide future changes in truck driver hours of service rules, rather than a political decision by Congress." The Trucking Alliance also cited concerns about FMCSA relinquishing its rulemaking authority, and concerns about potentials for "widespread confusion throughout the industry."

CARGO CONCERNS: After the Department of Homeland Security ruled to delay the implementation of a law to scan all incoming cargo at U.S. ports, Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.) raised grave concerns about the holdup, saying in a statement that she is "kept up at night by the thought of a terrorist attack at the Port of Los Angeles or the Port of Long Beach. ... The importance of this mandate cannot be understated, and yet, the Department of Homeland Security has now issued its third delay. To date, we are physically scanning just 3 percent of all incoming cargo." Critics of the law have said it would be prohibitively costly.

NEW ADDITION: Fresh off a stint with Hillary for America, Clark Pettig will become DOT's newest press secretary. He's also an alum of Crosscut Strategies, a slew of congressional offices, and Obama for America.

DEPARTING THE STATION: Jordan Langdon, communications staff for Rep. Jeff Denham - chairman of T&I's Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials - is headed over to the office of Sen. Jerry Moran. She tells MT that he still plans to work on transportation issues in her new job.

LATE NIGHT WHEN YOU NEED MY VOTE: BuzzFeed's Caroline O'Donovan reports that Uber has been texting customers in Texas, urging them to vote for a ballot initiative in Austin on Saturday that would repeal an existing city law requiring rideshare drivers to be fingerprinted as part of their background checks. Uber and Lyft authored the measure, known as Prop 1, and have spent more than $8 million in Texas to promote it. Uber has been texting customers on their personal cellphones, and some disgruntled users have taken to Twitter to air their annoyance at the campaigning. At least one tweeted he will not vote for the measure solely because of the texts. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19bba3f9aaac2c83fb04f7e49cdde27f040bb7b6d47b7a57b9396145e3cb79b9 (h/t POLITICO Influence)

THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):

- "Takata sets aside $189 million for airbag recall costs." Bloomberg.

- ... which would make sense, because "Takata Is Set to Recall 35 Million More Airbag Inflaters," according to the Wall Street Journal.

- The current state of New York's MTA: "You can wait four or five subways to get on, and you're just smushed." The New York Times.

- The Wall Street Journal's take on Tesla: "Profits? Mostly irrelevant. Dwindling cash levels? No problem. Production issues? They won't happen again, of course."

- Soccer moms, rejoice! Google's next self-driving car will be a minivan.

- "Man stuck on 5-hour train ride without food gets Domino's delivered." The Daily Dot.

THE COUNTDOWN: DOT appropriations run out in 151 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 73 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 189 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 1,613 days.

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