Action Recommended:

NOW, THEREFORE, ____City _____, by virtue of the power invested by the Constitution and the statutes of the ____City _____, does hereby order effective immediately:

• The ____City _____ will grant access to rights of way based to transportation networks that:
• Exceed 120 passenger-miles per gallon efficiency (or equivalent).
• Privately capitalize construction.
• Privately insure the safe use of the networks.
• Regulate and insure based on well established ASTM's and safety standards/practices of the theme park industry. (Well established industry with very safety record much better than government regulated networks)
• Pay 5% of gross revenues to the aggregate rights of way holders.
• The ____City _____ will coordinate with other users of rights of way.
• The City's transportation authority will accept proof of insurance as proof of compliance with regulations in the manner that theme parks are regulated.
• The City's environmental protection authority will assess environmental impacts based on a ratio of energy savings compared to approved modes of transportation. (Example: 50% less energy per passenger mile than cars will be assessed as twice as good for the environment over cars).
• The City's economic development authority will facilitate capital practices that encourage private funding of networks that achieve public policy objectives. This could include use of Private Activity Bonds from DOT.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have here unto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the _________________ to be affixed this the first day of ____Mon___ ___Year____.

Background:

Mobilizing to fight World War I, communications, power and transportation infrastructures were monopolized/socialized as "natural monopolies." The great innovations of Ford, Edison, Bell and the Wright Brothers were leveraged and institutionalized. The unintended consequences are a century of rotary telephones, the gas mileage of the Model-T, loss of thousands of miles of railroads, oil was made the lifeblood of our economy, debt growth that matches oil import growth.

In 1984 communications infrastructure management shifted from central planning to being governed by performance standards. Millions of jobs, vast innovation and better service at lower costs resulted. When power and transportation infrastructures shift to being governed by performance standards there again be millions of jobs, vast innovation and better service at lower costs. Key Points to allow transportation and power infrastructure innovation:

Resolution / Executive Order on Transportation Performance Standard

WHEREAS, transportation networks are the circulatory system of our economy, essential to the general welfare and common defense; and

WHEREAS, personal, on-demand mobility is an aspect of liberty, mobility facilitates freedom of speech and freedom of association, mobility accesses opportunities in the pursuit of happiness; and

WHEREAS, freight railroads sets a sustainable energy efficiency standard of moving goods at 436 ton-miles per gallon of fuel; and

WHEREAS, freight rail's long history of being 97 times more efficient than highway networks, sets a practical standard for potential improvement in transportation energy use and environmental stewardship; and

WHEREAS, highway networks do not provide equal access to mobility to all taxpayers, discriminating against those under 16 years old or do not have privileges to drive a car, those who cannot afford car payments, elderly and others disabled from owing or operating an automobile; and

WHEREAS, in New York City the typical family has an additional $2,500 of disposable income because of 31% access to transport as a service (transportation costs are reduced from $10,300 to $7,800, http://www.nhc.org/pdf/pub_heavy_load_10_06.pdf); and

WHEREAS, centrally planned highway networks result in automobile accidents with yearly costs to the US economy of $162 billion and about 40,000 deaths (AAA); and

WHEREAS, centrally planned highway networks result in automobile congestion with yearly costs to the US economy $87.2 billion (Texas Transportation Institute); and

WHEREAS, highway networks have not been sustainability maintained as indicated by a "D" rating by the American Society of Civil Engineers; and

WHEREAS, the Transcontinental Railroad was constructed with private capital during and after the Civil War, providing a precedent for implementing large infrastructure projects without direct use of government funds (government backed bonds were used to lower the interest rates but selling and paying bonds were the responsibility of the builders); and

WHEREAS, the 1984 shift from government central planning of communication infrastructure to governing by performance standards resulted in private capital rapidly re-tooling infrastructure while creating millions of jobs, vast innovation, better service and lower costs; and

WHEREAS, there are unexploited alternatives to providing transportation as a service that can be privately financed,

• Congressional Office of Technology Assessment study PB-244854 identified Automated Guideways and Personal Rapid Transit as a means to make US cities independent of imported oil after the 1973 Oil;
• The Personal Rapid Transit network at Morgantown, WV has provided 110 million injury-free, oil-free passenger miles since opening in 1975; and

WHEREAS, government centrally planned transportation infrastructure has resulted in a monolithic dependence on oil and the highway network that threaten national security:

• Oil imports increasing from 20% in 1973 to 65% in 2010 despite eight Presidents declaring imported oil a threat to national security.
• National and local government debt rapidly expanded when defending oil supply chains, infrastructure and oil costs were socialized instead of capitalized into the price of gasoline.
• Loss of about $2,000 of disposable income per working class family as gasoline prices increased from $1.45 in 2002 to $2.92 in 2006. As more and more families were forced to choose between pay for their commute and mortgage, foreclosures exposed flaws and collapsed the banking system.
• Loss of thousands of miles of railroads despite the fact that freight-rail averages 436 ton-miles per gallon.
• There is no significant efficiency difference or environmental damage between any government approved mode of transportation (DOE, http://cta.ornl.gov/data/chapter2.shtml):
• Automobiles: 34 passenger-miles per gallon (electric or gasoline), 97 times worse than freight-rail.
• Buses: 27 passenger-miles per gallon, 21% worse than cars, 117 times worse than freight-rail.
• Commuter rail: 38 passenger-miles per gallon, 12% better than cars, 83 times worse than freight-rail.
• Energy waste results from moving parasitic mass (mass not cargo or passengers) and repetitive start-stops (applications of power). GHG production is roughly equivalent to energy consumed. No government approved mode of transport substantially improves efficiency, reduces GHG production or mitigates climate risks.
and;

WHEREAS, significant risk of global resource war and $27-$57 trillion of investments and costs will be required to sustain oil-based transportation globally through 2020; and
Details:

• In Feb 2010 the US Joint Forces Command issued the Joint Operating Environment 2010 warning to all US military commands:

  "By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day."

  "A severe energy crunch is inevitable without a massive expansion of production and refining capacity. While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India. At best, it would lead to periods of harsh economic adjustment. To what extent conservation measures, investments in alternative energy production, and efforts to expand petroleum production from tar sands and shale would mitigate such a period of adjustment is difficult to predict. One should not forget that the Great Depression spawned a number of totalitarian regimes that sought economic prosperity for their nations by ruthless conquest."

  "Energy production and distribution infrastructure must see significant new investment if energy demand is to be satisfied at a cost compatible with economic growth and prosperity."

  "The discovery rate for new petroleum and gas fields over the past two decades (with the possible exception of Brazil) provides little reason for optimism that future efforts will find major new fields."

• International Energy Agency (to which under treaty, the US has pledged the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) in the World Energy Outlook 2009 and 2010 note (http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2010/key_graphs.pdf ):
• "The world's energy system is at a crossroads. Current global trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable - environmentally, economically, socially."
• "What is needed is nothing short of an energy revolution."
• Current oil fields are depleting at 6.7% per year.
• Maintaining access to fossil fuels will requires investments through 2030 of $26 trillion ($18 trillion applied to the 2020 estimate).
• Clean-up from use of fossil fuels requires an investment of $45 trillion through 2050 ($22.5 trillion applied to the 2020 estimate).
• Economies depend on oil "fields yet to be developed" and "fields yet to be found".
• Shifting transportation infrastructure such as railroads, highways requires about 50 years.
• In 25 years known sources of oil supplies will drop from 74 to 18 million barrels per day.
• The drilling moratorium after the BP Gulf Spill of 2010 will likely delay oil from "fields yet to be found" and "fields yet to be developed."

 



• Congress created the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission to report on "the surface transportation system to meet the needs of the United States for the 21st Century" (http://www.transportationfortomorrow.org):
• Total highway expenditure needs are estimated at $4.9 trillion through 2020; $10.0 trillion through 2035; and $18.3 trillion through 2055, stated in constant 2005 dollars.
• Total transit needs on a cumulative basis in constant 2005 dollars are estimated to be $1.1 trillion through 2020, $2.4 trillion through 2035 and $4.4 trillion through 2055. These estimates are the sum of the constant dollar estimates for each year.
• An increase in fees of about $0.71 per gallon of gas.
• The US consumes approximately $600 billion of oil year (20 mbd at $80 per barrel) or $6.5 trillion through 2020.
• Changing the US automobile fleet to more fuel-efficient cars requires an investment of $4 trillion (200 million cars at $20,000 each).

WHEREAS, most breakthrough innovations (examples:  manned flight, personal computer, home Internet, laser data storage devices, penicillin, vulcanized rubber, cell phones, Google) were not planned under government regulations or funding, but evolved from unsanctioned, privately funded entrepreneurs; and

WHEREAS, a ten times improvement in transportation efficiency would result in millions of jobs, vast and unexpected innovations, better service at lower costs and a cleaner environment;

NOW, THEREFORE, ____City _____, by virtue of the power invested by the Constitution and the statutes of the ____City _____, does hereby order effective immediately:

• The ____City _____ will grant access to rights of way based to transportation networks that:
• Exceed 120 passenger-miles per gallon efficiency (or equivalent).
• Privately capitalize construction.
• Privately insure the safe use of the networks.
• Regulate and insure based on well established ASTM's and safety standards/practices of the theme park industry. (Well established industry with very safety record much better than government regulated networks)
• Pay 5% of gross revenues to the aggregate rights of way holders.
• The ____City _____ will coordinate with other users of rights of way.
• The City's transportation authority will accept proof of insurance as proof of compliance with regulations in the manner that theme parks are regulated.
• The City's environmental protection authority will assess environmental impacts based on a ratio of energy savings compared to approved modes of transportation. (Example: 50% less energy per passenger mile than cars will be assessed as twice as good for the environment over cars).
• The City's economic development authority will facilitate capital practices that encourage private funding of networks that achieve public policy objectives. This could include use of Private Activity Bonds from DOT.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have here unto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the _________________ to be affixed this the first day of ____Mon___ ___Year____.