The Koch brothers are
pouring money into grassroots state efforts to defeat public transit proposals,
The New York Times reported.
Local chapters of Koch
advocacy group Americans for Prosperity have worked in at least seven states
since 2015 to sway voters against public transit proposals, with some notable
successes: the group was partially responsible for the defeat of a popular
light rail and bus improvement plan in traffic-choked Nashville this May, after
making more than 42,000 phone calls and knocking on 6,000 doors.
Koch Industries is deeply
embedded in the automobile industry, and the group has also launched attacks
on electric
vehicles in recent years. "Stopping higher taxes is their
rallying cry," Ashley Robbins of Virginia Tech told The New York Times.
"But at the end of the day, fuel consumption helps them."
As reported by The New York Times:
"Supporters of transit
investments point to research that shows that they reduce traffic, spur
economic development and fight global warming by
reducing emissions. Americans for Prosperity counters that public transit plans
waste taxpayer money on unpopular, outdated technology like trains and buses
just as the world is moving toward cleaner, driverless vehicles.
...
The paucity of federal funding
for transit projects means that local ballots are critical in shaping how
Americans travel, with decades-long repercussions for the economy and the
environment. Highway funding has historically been built into state and federal
budgets, but transit funding usually requires a vote to raise taxes, creating
what experts call a systemic bias toward cars over trains and buses. The United
States transportation sector emits
more earth-warming carbon dioxide than any other part of the nation's
economy.
The Trump administration had
initially raised hopes of more funding for transit by advocating a
trillion-dollar infrastructure push. However, when that proposed plan was made
public it reduced funding for transit-related grants."
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