California’s high-speed rail ‘boondoggle’ wastes $7 billion to build zero tracks — Trump’s DOT threatens to pull grants



After roughly 15 years and billions in taxpayer dollars, California’s high-speed rail project still has yet to lay down a single track, according to President Donald Trump’s Department of Transportation.

A shocking 300-page Federal Railroad Administration report released Wednesday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed that the project has already absorbed approximately $6.9 billion in federal funds.

'While continued federal partnership is important to the project, the majority of our funding has been provided by the state.'

California is anticipating another $4 billion in taxpayer money from two additional grants. However, Duffy noted that the state is in jeopardy of losing the funds because the project’s colossal failures have put it “in default of the terms of its federal grant awards.”

RELATED: Trump’s DOT left to clean up Biden admin's $43 billion grant fiasco

July 13, 2017, in Fresno, California. Photo by California High-Speed Rail Authority via Getty Images

A DOT press release stated that its latest report uncovered “years of mismanagement, broken promises, and wasted federal taxpayer dollars.”

The rail projects revealed nine “key findings,” including “missed deadlines, budget shortfalls, and overrepresentation of projected ridership.”

California High-Speed Rail Authority has 37 days to respond to the FRA’s report and secure the grants.

RELATED: California, federal government feud over $3.5 billion meant for high-speed rail 'boondoggle'

Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Duffy said, “I promised the American people we would be good stewards of their hard-earned tax dollars. This report exposes a cold, hard truth: CHSRA has no viable path to complete this project on time or on budget. CHSRA is on notice — If they can’t deliver on their end of the deal, it could soon be time for these funds to flow to other projects that can achieve President Trump’s vision of building great, big, beautiful things again.”

“Our country deserves high-speed rail that makes us proud – not [boondoggle] trains to nowhere,” he added.

The DOT secretary wrote in a post on X that the funds currently allocated toward the doomed project could be redirected to “other more deserving infrastructure projects.”

— (@)

The CHSRA responded to the FRA’s report in a Wednesday statement that only further emphasized the project’s egregious waste of taxpayer funds, but this time on the state level.

We remain firmly committed to completing the nation’s first true high-speed rail system connecting the major population centers in the state.

The Authority strongly disagrees with the FRA’s conclusions, which are misguided and do not reflect the substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California. While continued federal partnership is important to the project, the majority of our funding has been provided by the state.

To that end, the governor’s budget proposal, which is currently before the legislature, extends at least $1 billion per year in funding for the next 20 years, providing the necessary resources to complete the project’s initial operating segment. The Authority will fully address and correct the record in our formal response to the FRA’s notice.

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Trump ousts Biden’s Democratic NTSB vice chair amid aviation crisis



President Donald Trump's administration recently removed the Democratic vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

A White House official told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Alvin Brown had been removed from the board.

'We're going to build a brand-new air traffic control system.'

Brown was appointed to the five-person safety panel by former President Joe Biden in December 2024, after the November presidential election and just weeks before Trump's inauguration.

An internet archive shows that Brown was removed from the NTSB's website sometime after May 1. The now-removed webpage stated that Brown had served as a board member since March 2024 and as a senior adviser for the Department of Transportation's Community Infrastructure Opportunities since August 2022. Brown served as the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, from 2011 to 2015.

"Brown began his career as a senior member of the White House leadership team under President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. As Vice President Al Gore's Senior Advisor for Urban Policy, and Vice Chair of the White House Community Empowerment Board, he advised President Clinton and Vice President Gore on a wide range of domestic issues, including community revitalization, job creation, new business development, and affordable housing," the website previously read. "As Executive Director of the White House Community Empowerment Board, Brown led the Administration's $4 billion community empowerment initiatives, including the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community programs."

The NTSB's website now lists only four members: Chairman Jennifer Homendy and members Michael Graham, Thomas Chapman, and J. Todd Inman.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigator, told WBAL that he has never seen a president remove a board member. It is typical for members to remain on the board past their five-year term when an administration has not selected a replacement.

"That happens a lot over the years, but that's normal and expected because you served your term and now it's time for someone else to serve in there," Guzzetti said. "But this wasn't that. This was just more abrupt and directly from the administration, and I don't know what the impetus is."

While the White House did not provide a reason for Brown's termination, Trump has previously commented on independent agency's lack of oversight and slow aviation investigations, which may have influenced the recent NTSB shake-up.

In February, Trump signed an executive order to ensure more accountability within federal agencies.

A White House fact sheet detailed the "reining in" of several independent agencies. However, it did not specifically name the NTSB, an independent government agency tasked with investigating transportation accidents.

"So-called independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight," it read.

Following the January aviation disaster at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that resulted in the deaths of 67 people, Trump appeared to slam the federal government for historically slow investigations.

During a press briefing, he stated, "We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now because, over the years, I've watched as things like this happen and they say, 'Well, we're always investigating.' And then the investigation, three years later, they announce it."

Earlier this week, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told Fox News that the administration will "radically transform the way air traffic control looks."

"We're going to build a brand-new air traffic control system," he added.

Duffy stated that the Trump administration will unveil the details of its plans on Thursday.

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Incompetence or sabotage? Trump DOT yanks prosecutors for damaging leak in NYC congestion toll lawsuit



President Donald Trump's Department of Transportation replaced federal prosecutors who leaked damaging information regarding the administration's plan to terminate New York City's congestion toll.

On Wednesday evening, the Department of Justice lawyers accidentally — they claimed — filed in federal court a confidential memo that undermined the administration's case.

'It's sad to see a premier legal organization continue to fall into such disgrace.'

The 11-page letter, dated April 11, was written by the lawyers and addressed to Sean Duffy, informing the DOT secretary that they believed their case was "exceedingly likely" to fail.

"We have been unable to identify a compelling legal argument to support this position," they wrote.

The prosecutors recommended Duffy form a stronger argument against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's DOT in February for attempting to put a stop to the congestion toll.

"As discussed below, there is considerable litigation risk in defending the Secretary's February 19, 2025 decision against plaintiffs' claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, that the decision was contrary to law, pretextual, procedurally arbitrary and capricious, and violated due process," the attorneys told Duffy.

The prosecutors suggested that Duffy use Office of Management and Budget regulations to argue the congestion toll should be terminated "as a matter of changed agency priorities." They also stated that the administration could claim that the pricing was based on MTA's funding level needs and not a goal to reduce traffic.

However, the lawyers concluded that both of these arguments were unlikely to convince the court.

Nicholas Biase, a Southern District of New York spokesperson, stated that the filing of the confidential memo "was a completely honest error and was not intentional in any way."

Yet, the DOT questioned whether the leak was deliberate.

Halee Dobbins, a DOT spokesperson, stated, "Are SDNY lawyers on this case incompetent or was this their attempt to RESIST? At the very least, it's legal malpractice."

"It's sad to see a premier legal organization continue to fall into such disgrace," she said. "SDNY's memo doesn't represent reality. [New York Governor] Kathy Hochul's congestion pricing war against the working class was hastily approved by the Biden Administration after Donald Trump was elected."

"Taxpayers already financed the highways that Hochul is now shutting down to the driving public and there is no free alternative. This is unprecedented and illegal. If New York doesn't shut it down, the Department of Transportation is considering halting projects and funding for the state," Dobbins added.

The DOT replaced the attorneys with others in the DOJ's Civil Division.

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Trump’s DOT left to clean up Biden admin's $43 billion grant fiasco



The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation revealed that it inherited an “unprecedented backlog of grants” left by the Biden administration.

In late March, the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration reported that Secretary Sean Duffy had finalized a $221 million federal grant to rebuild Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge — its westbound side has been closed since December 2023 following a “critical failure.” The funding for the project was initially announced in the fall of 2024, but the Biden administration “failed to sign the agreement.”

‘Under the Trump administration, we’ve ripped out this red tape and are getting back to what matters.’

The DOT’s announcement noted that "the Trump administration inherited roughly 3,200 unobligated grants that had been promoted by the previous administration but never fulfilled.”

Duffy stated, “Since coming into office, my team has discovered an unprecedented backlog of grants leftover from the previous administration.”

He slammed “ridiculous DEI and Green New Deal requirements” for preventing “real infrastructure from being built and funded.”

“Under the Trump administration, we’ve ripped out this red tape and are getting back to what matters. As part of our work to deliver real results, we are pleased to announce $221 million in grants for Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge — a critical link that carries thousands of vehicles a day,” Duffy declared.

A DOT spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the backlogs totaled $43 billion. After Trump won the election but before he took office, the Biden administration reportedly announced $9 billion worth of grants to 1,000 recipients that were not made official before Biden departed.

“Nothing was done to actually get these grant agreements signed and sent to projects,” the DOT spokesperson stated.

During the April 10 Cabinet meeting, Duffy told President Donald Trump about the previous administration’s massive grant backlog.

“The last administration announced 3,200 projects, big, beautiful roads and bridges — most of them are good. But they announced them — they didn’t sign a grant agreement,” he explained. “So the money doesn’t go out the door to build the infrastructure in the country. And it’s fun to do an announcement. It’s actually the harder work to put together these grant agreements.”

Duffy noted how the Biden administration included “green and social justice requirements.”

“We’re pulling all that out and putting the money toward the infrastructure, not the social movement from the last administration,” he said.

Trump responded, “Good steel, right? As opposed to green papier-mache.”

On Monday, Duffy announced that the DOT had saved taxpayers $63.9 million by terminating a grant between the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak to build a high-speed rail project in Texas.

Duffy called the project “a waste of taxpayer funds and a distraction from Amtrak’s core mission of improving its existing subpar services.”

“If the private sector believes this project is feasible, they should carry the pre-construction work forward, rather than relying on Amtrak and the American taxpayer to bail them out. My department will continue to look for every opportunity to save federal dollars and prioritize efficiencies,” Duffy said.

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Clean up crime-ridden transit or lose federal funds: Trump's DOT warns cities



Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy demanded that cities clean up their crime-ridden public transit systems if they want to continue receiving taxpayer funds from the federal government.

Duffy's threats to withhold funding stemmed from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's failure to keep New York City's subway system safe for riders. In a Tuesday letter to the MTA, Duffy requested that the agency turn over data on subway crime as well as its plans to address those issues.

'It's not just New York; it'll be Chicago, it'll be Washington, D.C.'

"The trend of violent crime, homelessness, and other threats to public safety on one of our nation's most prominent metro systems is unacceptable. After years of soft-on-crime policies, our Department is stepping in to restore order," Duffy wrote. "Commuters are sick and tired of feeling like they have to jeopardize their safety to get to work, go to school, or to travel around the city. We will continue to fight to ensure their federal tax dollars are going towards a crime-free commute."

MTA Chief of Policy and External Relations John J. McCarthy released a statement following Duffy's letter, claiming the agency would be "happy to discuss" its efforts with the DOT.

MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber claimed that the agency has "done so much to improve subway safety."

"Right now, crime in the subway is down 45% versus the period right before [the] pandemic," he said. "They asked us for very detailed information, and we're going to prepare a letter in response."

"We have, actually, the lowest number of daily crimes in the subway system than we have ever had in recorded history in the first part of this year," Lieber remarked.

Duffy disputed the MTA's claims during an interview with Fox News, stating that assaults are up 56% in New York subways since 2019.

"It's dangerous, it's dirty, and the city has spent billions of dollars on migrants — whether housing and feeding them — and they can't spend millions of dollars to clean up their subway," Duffy told the news outlet. "We give millions of dollars a year to the New York subway, and part of the requirement is they keep it safe."

Duffy stated that the Trump administration is prepared to pull funding if cities cannot keep their subway systems safe.

"And it's not just New York; it'll be Chicago, it'll be Washington, D.C.," he added. "If they don't get on board to change their ways, we're pulling cash."

"We're not going to fund dirty, disgusting homeless shelters that mirror as subway stations," Duffy told Fox News.

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Mayor Pete orders citizens to stop using drones to find stranded victims as feds fumble hurricane response



United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced on Wednesday temporary flight restrictions "near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene."

Buttigieg stated, "Our goal is to make sure that funding is no obstacle to very quickly get people the relief that they need and deserve."

'This is biblical-level devastation. This is apocalyptic, the things that we see out there.'

"There's also some safety issues that come up," he continued. "For example, temporary flight restrictions to make sure that the airspace is clear for any flights or drone activity that might be involved in helping to allow those emergency responders to do their job."

The Transportation Department posted a video of Buttigieg's comments, adding, "Drone pilots: Do not fly your drone near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene. Interfering with emergency response operations impacts search and rescue operations on the ground."

During a Wednesday press briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed that the federal government lacks the funds to fully respond to such disasters, Blaze News previously reported.

"We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds," Mayorkas remarked.

America First Legal reported that the Biden-Harris administration's Federal Emergency Management Agency blew a significant portion of its funding on illegal immigrants.

"The Biden-Harris FEMA spent over $1 BILLION on funding illegal aliens," AFL stated.

Many have expressed frustration and dissatisfaction with the federal government's disaster relief response for American citizens residing in areas devastated by Hurricane Helene.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) torched the administration for its lackluster efforts to help Americans, particularly those living in rural areas.

Kemp told WRDW, "When the first emergency declarations came down, there was only 11 counties in that. A lot of people were outraged, including me, because there was such devastation in up to 90 counties."

"So we called the White House. We spoke to the president's chief of staff, the FEMA administrator and said, 'Look, you're sending the signal that you're not paying attention to some of these rural communities,'" he continued.

At least 200 people have been confirmed dead.

"It was a massive storm, and we're dealing with things statewide, even the metro-Atlanta area had record flooding. We had mudslides. We had to evacuate people below lakes and ponds up in the northeast part of the state, so we've been dealing with it," Kemp told the news outlet.

Tim Kennedy, co-founder of Save Our Allies, recently told Fox Business that FEMA is getting in the way of his team's rescue efforts.

"Where is the federal response and the plan?" Kennedy questioned.

When asked whether FEMA was on the ground, he responded, "I mean, they're present. They're in the way. They're directly interrupting our ability to conduct missions and operations."

Kennedy explained that he had attempted to place a couple of people in a hotel earlier this week, but he was unable to do so because federal employees had booked all of the rooms.

"This is biblical-level devastation. This is apocalyptic, the things that we see out there," he added.

On Thursday, Blaze News' Julio Rosas joined Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) in Swannanoa, North Carolina. Rosas noted that a group of veterans and locals had banded together to provide relief to those in need, making deliveries with civilian helicopters, UTVs, and ATVs.

"When I asked about the feds response, one guy said: What response?" Rosas posted on X.

— (@)

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Amtrak trains keep breaking down, even after historic $66B taxpayer cash infusion. Where is the money being spent?



A new report from the Department of Transportation revealed that Amtrak, a federally chartered company, is still experiencing routine breakdowns and interruptions despite receiving tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to continue operations, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

The passenger rail company was created in 1971 and has never turned a profit. Instead, it has relied on taxpayer dollars to remain operational. The company loses roughly $1 billion per year. According to documents obtained by Open the Books, despite losing money, the company paid its 19,000 workers an average salary of $121,000 for fiscal year 2022.

'Without significant taxpayer support, Amtrak could not operate.'

The Biden administration has funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into the company, including announcing in November a $16.4 billion investment for rail system improvements for its Northeast Corridor. The funding will be used to rebuild tunnels and bridges as well as upgrade tracks, power systems, signals, and stations.

"If the Northeast Corridor shut down for a single day, it would cost the economy $100 million in lost productivity," the White House previously stated.

The administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law earmarked $66 billion for rail improvements, which the administration boasted was the "largest investment" in Amtrak's history. As part of this investment, the Biden administration allocated $3.07 billion to the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The project has not made significant progress since it was approved in 2008.

According to the White House, Biden envisions turning Amtrak into a "world-class passenger rail" experience. The investments aim to "ensure that train service is more convenient and climate-friendly than either driving or flying."

Approximately 22.93 million traveled aboard Amtrak in fiscal year 2022, Statista reported. From January through December 2022, roughly 853 million passengers traveled with U.S. airlines.

The DOT's latest report revealed that from 2021 through July 9, 2024, Amtrak experienced 333 incidents nationwide, slightly fewer than the 397 incidents that occurred during the Trump administration between 2016 and July 2020, the DCNF reported.

Since Biden took office, there have been 66 derailments, 84 obstructions, 115 incidents involving trains crossing over roadways, five fires or "violent ruptures," and 54 events described as "other."

A recent power outage from a malfunctioning circuit breaker interrupted service between New York and Boston last week. WCBS reported that the outage impacted all tracks between Penn Station in New York and Union Station in New Haven, Connecticut.

"Amtrak is communicating directly with customers impacted by these adjustments and offering options for rebooking their travel plans," the company stated. "Amtrak apologizes for any inconvenience caused by the disruption."

Last month, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner addressed the rail company's recent service interruptions, stating, "We understand the impact the recent events had on both Amtrak and NJ Transit customers and their families, and we share their frustration."

"It's vital we work with NJ Transit to identify the root cause of these disruptions and return to on-time service and the quality experience customers expect," Gardner added.

On Monday afternoon, an Amtrak train headed from Kansas City, Missouri, to Chicago, Illinois, derailed. According to the company, a tree on the tracks caused the incident. KCTV reported no injuries.

Last year, House Republicans proposed legislation to cut Amtrak's funding. The Biden administration rejected the cuts, calling them "draconian."

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure argued, "Without significant taxpayer support, Amtrak could not operate."

Neither Amtrak nor the DOT responded to a request for comment from the DCNF.

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Talking head laughs in Buttigieg's face after he glosses over the Biden admin's epic failure



Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was recently asked about one of his boss' unrealistic green schemes, namely the installation of electric vehicle charging stations across the country. His answer prompted CBS' Margaret Brennan to laugh in his face.

Apparently keen to keep the laughs coming, Buttigieg subsequently blamed airline turbulence on climate change.

Only 499,992 to go

Ahead of the 2020 election, then-candidate Joe Biden promised the American people in four debates and during his CNN town hall interview that he would build half a million new charging stations across the nation if elected.

After taking the White House, Biden reiterated his promise, stating in November 2021, "We're going to build out the first-ever national network of charging stations all across the country — over 500,000 of them. ... So you'll be able to go across the whole darn country, from East Coast to West Coast, just like you'd stop at a gas station now. These charging stations will be available."

That month, the then-Democrat-controlled Congress passed a corresponding $1 trillion infrastructure package. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and 18 other Republican lawmakers, evidently unswayed by former President Donald Trump's critiques, subsequently helped Democrats pass the measure in the U.S. Senate.

Of the 1,000 billion taxpayer dollars sunk into the bill, $73 billion was designated for updating the nation's electricity grid so it could carry more renewable energy and $7.5 billion to build Biden's promised EV charging stations by 2030.

According to the EV policy analyst group Atlas Public Policy, the funding designated for the rollout should be enough for at least 20,000 charging spots and 5,000 stations.

Now years into the scheme, it appears increasingly unlikely that Biden's costly promise will materialize.

In March, the Federal Highway Administration confirmed to the Washington Post that only seven of Biden's planned 500,000 EV charging stations were operational, amounting to a total of 38 spots for drivers in Hawaii, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to charge their vehicles.

Politico noted last year that that a National Renewable Energy Laboratory study estimated the country will need 1.2 million public chargers by 2030 to meet the demand artificially created by the Biden administration's climate agenda and corresponding regulations. As of June 2023, there were roughly 180,000 chargers nationwide.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and other Republican lawmakers penned a February letter to Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, expressing concerns that "American taxpayer dollars are being woefully mismanaged."

Over the weekend, Margaret Brennan pressed the issue further in conversation with the Biden DOT secretary on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Laughable

"Let me ask you about a portion of this that I think does fall under your portfolio, and that's the charging stations you mentioned. The Federal Highway Administration says only seven or eight charging stations have been produced with a $7.5 billion investment that taxpayers made back in 2021," said Brennan. "Why isn't that happening more quickly?"

"So the president's goal is to have half a million chargers up by the end of this decade. Now, in order to do a charger, it's more than just plunking a small device into the ground. There's utility work, and this is also really a new category of federal investment."

"But we've been working with each of the 50 states," continued Buttigieg. "Every one of them is getting formula dollars to do this work."

Brennan leaned in and asked, "Seven or eight, though?"

"Again, by 2030: 500,000 chargers," responded Buttigieg.

Brennan laughed at Buttigieg's suggestion, evidently unable to conceal her disbelief in the possibility that another 499,992 chargers could be installed and operational inside the next six years.

"And the very first handful of chargers are now already being physically built. But again, that's the absolute very, very beginning stages of the construction to come," added Buttigieg.

Despite the Biden administration admittedly being at the "very, very beginning stages," it is nevertheless trying to get gas-consuming cars off the streets and replacing them with EVs that will all rely on the handful of existing charging stations.

In March, the administration announced a rule that would limit the amount of exhaust permitted from cars such that by 2032, over half of the new cars need to be so-called zero-emissions vehicles, reported the New York Times.

Keeping it light

While short on satisfactory answers, Buttigieg still had plenty of alarmism to go around.

The DOT secretary told Brennan, "The reality is the effects of climate change are already upon us in terms of our transportation. We've seen that in the form of everything from heat waves that shouldn't statistically even be possible threatening to melt the cables of transit systems in the Pacific Northwest, to hurricane seasons becoming more and more extreme, and indications that turbulence is up by about 15%."

A study published last year in Geophysical Research Letters suggested that clear-air turbulence "is predicted to become more frequent because of climate change," claiming that the strongest category of clear-air turbulence was 55% more frequent in 2020 than in 1979.

Brennan pressed Buttigieg on whether the kind of extreme turbulence experienced last week by Singapore Airlines flight SQ321, which was traveling from London to Singapore, would soon become more common in the United States.

"To be clear, something that extreme is very rare. But turbulence can happen and sometimes it can happen unexpectedly," said Buttigieg. "This is all about making sure that we stay ahead of the curve, keeping aviation as safe as it is."

The "Face the Nation" interview was slapped with a community note on X, noting that National Transportation Safety Board data "shows there is no rising trend in aircraft turbulence incidents."

— (@)

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Biden admin releases energy grid plan for electric-, hydrogen-powered freight trucks



On Tuesday, the Biden administration released its energy grid plan for electric- and hydrogen-powered long-haul freight trucks, according to a press release from the Department of Energy.

The administration's 16-year power infrastructure plan will install charging and refueling stations along 12,000 miles of high-traffic roads and national highways.

United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said, "For over a century, petroleum-fueled freight has transported vital food and resources to American families, but at the same time, these vehicles have also contributed to lower public health, especially in densely populated communities."

The National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy was developed by the DOE and Joint Office of Energy and Transportation in partnership with the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. The plan aims to build zero-emission fueling infrastructure for long-haul, medium- and heavy-duty freight trucks by 2040.

"The Strategy is designed to meet growing market demands by targeting public investment to amplify private sector momentum, focus utility and regulatory energy planning, align industry activity, and improve air quality in local communities heavily impacted by diesel emissions," the DOE's press release read. "Providing ubiquitous and convenient access to electric vehicle (EV) charging and hydrogen refueling along our nation's freight corridors and at intermodal freight facilities and high-usage ports is key to achieving U.S. goals to promote at least 30 percent [zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles] sales by 2030 and 100 percent sales by 2040."

Biden's national climate adviser, Ali Zaidi, noted that 75% of truck traffic travels on 4% of the country's roads. He argued that the strategy would be a "win-win-win" for communities, businesses, and the climate.

The DOE claims the four-phased build-out will have "considerable potential to save Americans money on consumer goods thanks to reduced fueling and maintenance costs associated with transport." The energy grid plan will also provide "significant health benefits for historically disadvantaged populations that suffer the worst impacts of pollution from freight emissions and helping achieve national climate goals," it added.

The first phase of the strategy, to be completed by 2027, will use freight volumes to determine the priority hubs. The next stage will "connect hubs along critical freight corridors" by 2030. The strategy designates another five years to "expand corridor connections initiating network development." Lastly, the fourth phase will "achieve [a] national network by linking regional corridors for ubiquitous access."

According to Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt, long-haul freight trucks contribute roughly 23% of the country's transportation greenhouse gas emissions.

"These new designations and strategy will help to grow our national EV charging network, encourage clean commerce within the freight community, and support President Biden's goals of achieving net-zero emissions for the nation by 2050," Bhatt said.

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Pete Buttigieg expresses outrage that Supreme Court didn't prioritize LGBT agenda over Americans' constitutional rights



The United States Supreme Court ruled Friday that Colorado cannot force Christian graphic designer Lorie Smith to create art that violates her religious beliefs, particularly her belief that marriage necessarily entails the union between a man and a woman.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, noted, "The First Amendment’s protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy."

Democratic Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is evidently of a different mind, indicating in an interview over the weekend that the court's prioritization of Americans' constitutional rights over ideological conformity is problematic.

Buttigieg spoke to CBS' Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation" about a number issues Sunday, including the airline disruptions neither he nor his department appears capable of resolving.

Brennan raised the matter of the Supreme Court's June 30 decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, then cited Buttigieg's reactive tweet, which read, "Discrimination is wrong. Using religion as an excuse to discriminate is wrong - and unconstitutional. The Court's minority is right: the Constitution is no license for a business to discriminate. Today's ruling will move America backward."

— (@)

"Justice Gorsuch said this was a First Amendment issue where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands," said Brennan. "What do you make of the argument that Colorado was labeling free speech as discrimination in order to censor it?"

Buttigieg suggested that cases such as graphic designer Lorie Smith's "are designed to get people spun up and designed to chip away at rights."

In Smith's case, Buttigieg appears to have been referencing the "right" of LGBT activists to call upon the state to force an artist to generate artwork or messaging she finds morally compromising.

"You look at Friday's decision diminishing the equality of same-sex couples. You look at a number of the decisions that have been made; they pose a question that is even deeper than these big cases. And the question is this: Did we just live to see the high water mark of freedoms and rights in this country before they were gradually taken away?" said Buttigieg.

The openly gay Biden secretary, who adopted two children with his "husband," further suggested that the court's ruling jeopardized the generational accretion of rights that has "added up and affected so many people, including me, of course, as I'm getting ready to go back to my husband and our twins for the rest of this morning, thinking about the fact that the existence of our family is is only a reality because of a one-vote margin on the Supreme Court a few years ago."

Buttigieg stressed that the Supreme Court is "very much out of step with how most Americans view these issues."

The Supreme Court has long served America as a countermajoritarian institution, upholding the Constitution even when "out of step" with public opinion.

For instance, the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which saw U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools struck down as unconstitutional, was a deeply unpopular decision at the time. This was especially true of southern Democrats, such as Sen. Harry Byrd Sr. of Virginia, who reckoned the court was out of step with popular opinion and worked ardently to prevent desegregation.

One of the primary reasons Supreme Court justices and other federal judges appointed under Article III of the Constitution hold their posts for life is to spare them from having to pander to the mob — or as Alexander Hamilton put it in Federalist No. 78, to preclude them from developing "too great a disposition to consult popularity."

Brennan also asked Buttigieg about the provocative analogies in the amicus brief co-signed by 20 senators and 48 House members that Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Mike Lee (Utah) co-led, which said, "Compelling an individual to use her artistic and intellectual capabilities to create a message she opposes is the most odious form of compelled expression. Such laws coerce writers and artists into 'betraying their convictions.' ... They are the tool of totalitarian regimes, not the United States."

The brief compared the imposition of Colorado's coercive law on Smith to the requirement that an atheist musician perform at an evangelical church service or a Muslim tattoo artist be "forced to write 'My religion is the only true religion' on the body of a Christian."

Buttigieg responded, "That's really not a comparison that is relevant to this case. But more importantly, I think it's really telling that you have to think of these far-fetched hypotheticals in order to justify decisions that are actually going to have much worse impacts in the real world. And I think this, again, goes back to the broader agenda of the culture wars that are being fired up."

TheBlaze previously reported that President Joe Biden, like his DOT secretary, is upset over the court's ruling in this case.

"While the Court’s decision only addresses expressive original designs, I'm deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans. More broadly, today’s decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations – including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women," Biden said in a statement.

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