Blunt, McCaskill provisions included in highway funding bill | St. Louis Public Radio

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If you drive a rental car, travel by rail, or need to turn on the AC on a hot summer day, you will be affected by provisions Missouri’s two U.S. senators have worked to get into a highway funding bill, likely to win congressional approval in the next few days. . . .

Republican Roy Blunt and Democrat Claire McCaskill teamed up to co-sponsor The Grid Reliability Act, aimed at ensuring power utilities don’t run afoul of environmental regulations when operating under orders from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to improve power grid reliability, especially at times of peak demand for electricity. . . .

Another McCaskill-sponsored measure included in the package would streamline an often cumbersome federal permitting process for major projects. The Permitting Improvement Act, has been a two-year effort of McCaskill and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. The two reintroduced the measure last spring with backing from a wide array of business, industry, union, and trade associations including the U.S. and Missouri Chambers of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Missouri Realtors, Associated General Contractors of Missouri and others.

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Blunt, McCaskill provisions included in highway funding bill | St. Louis Public Radio

MoBikeFed comment: Both Sens. McCaskill and Blunt have also been supportive of bicycle & pedestrian funding in this round of the federal transportation reauthorization.

That is a welcome change from 2012 and earlier, when Sen. McCaskill's support for bike/ped had been shakey--to put it mildly.

We would love to see Missouri's two senators step up and support some real, positive reform in how the federal transportation handles bicycle and walking, tool