With help from Tanya Snyder, Stephanie Beasley and Alex Guillén
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— Amtrak gave a defiant defense of its contentious arbitration policy in a letter responding to criticism from lawmakers.
— The FCC shrugged off a request from DOT to hold off on its recent proposal to reallocate the 5.9 GHz “safety band” for other uses.
— TSA is planning to create a test bed for counterdrone technology at Miami’s airport.
IT’S THURSDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. Get in touch with tips, feedback or song lyric suggestions at smintz@politico.com or @samjmintz.
“I woke up in New York City / From my sleep behind the wheel / Caught a train to Poughkeepsie / And time stood still.” (h/t Nicole Tieman)
LISTEN HERE: Follow MT’s playlist on Spotify. What better way to start your day than with songs (picked by us and readers) about roads, rails, rivers and runways.
AMTRAK DEFENDS ARBITRATION POLICY: Amtrak offered its most substantive defense yet of its new, contentious arbitration policy for customers in a letter sent to lawmakers last week and shared with POLITICO on Wednesday. The railroad said it implemented the policy for two reasons: to give customers a more efficient process when they have claims that can’t be resolved directly with Amtrak, and to follow a congressional directive to save money. Arbitration will help cut back on legal costs, which made up more than $11 million for the budgetarily squeezed company in the last five years.
The letter was a response to criticism from lawmakers, which came after we reported on the policy last month. It doesn’t seem like it will sway many of them, though. House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he still thinks the policy “goes too far in limiting opportunities for the customers and American public to hold Amtrak accountable by raising serious issues in a public forum.”
EXCLUSIVE: FCC SHRUGGED OFF REQUEST FROM CHAO: In a letter sent two days before the FCC’s announcement of a new proposal to reallocate the 5.9 GHz “safety band” for other uses, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao pleaded with Chairman Ajit Pai to hold off, to have more dialogue before making any announcement and to consider that such a move could jeopardize the safety and congestion benefits the band was meant to realize. The letter was not made public before now. Read the scoop from our Tanya Snyder.
HANDS OFF THE GHZ, FCC: Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), the top Republicans on the House Transportation Committee, joined Democrats Wednesday in urging the FCC to reject Pai’s proposal, saying it “would be counter to our national transportation policy goals.” With bipartisan opposition to the plan, watch for sparks to fly today when the entire commission appears before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for an oversight hearing.
WELCOME TO MIAMI: TSA is working with Miami International Airport, local and national law enforcement partners, the FAA, and other agencies to establish a test bed for counterdrone technologies, our Stephanie Beasley reports. TSA official Keith Goll told an audience at an industry event in D.C. on Wednesday that while the initiative is still under development, TSA hopes it will eventually create a clearing house of information on counterdrone technologies that can be shared with airports.
INSIDE EDITION: TSA acting Deputy Administrator Patricia Cogswell, at the same event, said the agency also will soon release new guidelines to help airlines and airports prevent insider threats. They will take a multi-layered approach that will include recommendations for information-based screening and random security checks instead of the single-point staff screening model being adopted in other countries, which is at the center of debate among International Civil Aviation Organization members.
A MEETING OF MINDS: CBP said it met with privacy advocates this week to discuss its implementation of a mandate for a biometric entry-exit system and how the agency will protect travelers’ privacy. News of the meeting came just a day after Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) blasted CBP’s plan to issue a proposal that would no longer allow U.S. citizens to opt out of having their faces scanned at ports of entry.
DRONE GROAN: In Wednesday’s MT, we made an error that turned out to be illustrative of the touchy politics around Chinese drones in the U.S. We wrote that the FAA had partnered with DJI, a Chinese dronemaker, on an FAA drone pilot project in Memphis. In fact, Memphis International Airport, which is the lead partner on the FAA project, chose to partner with DJI independently, and the FAA wasn’t involved with the decision.
So in sum: The FAA is partnering with the Memphis airport, which itself is partnering with DJI and using its drones as part of the program. Whether you use a transitive definition of partnership or not, it’s clear that DJI is at a certain level formally involved in the FAA project.
But there remains a sense of unease around the Chinese company, which has been the subject of DHS warnings over data security and seen its drones used by Interior grounded indefinitely. Both DJI and the FAA were quick to point out our error and distance themselves from each other each other despite being involved with the same project. A DJI spokesperson noted that the company isn’t interacting with the FAA. The FAA’s language was blunt, too: “This particular Lead Participant has elected to partner with DJI,” a spokesperson said.
WHY WASHINGTON HASN’T FIXED INFRASTRUCTURE: Why is the federal government struggling to pass meaningful infrastructure reform? A new look at the issue from the Brookings Institute argues that it’s not the politics, and not the money. “Washington could not deliver reform because Congress and the administration failed to commit to a process to rethink and redesign current law,” write Adie Tomer, Joseph Kane and Lara Fishbane. Congress and the White House have agreed they should do something, but nobody’s really talked about what they actually want to do.
The laws on the books aren’t equipped to deal with the modern meaning of “infrastructure” and its challenges, the Brookings scholars argue. For example: “Federal transportation policy continues building intercity connectivity using the technologies of the 20th century: the automobile and the airplane.”
How to start fixing it: Make sure policymakers are asking the right questions, they write, like what challenges infrastructure should be addressing and what the right role is for the federal government.
A FULL HELPING OF GROWTH, HOLD THE EXTENSIONS: U.S. transportation construction grew by 8 percent in 2019 to $286.5 billion, nearly doubling the growth rate anticipated by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association. The group predicted Wednesday that 2020 will see the market grow at least 5 percent. ARTBA Chief Economist Dr. Alison Premo Black said transportation building would grow to $300.4 billion, “fueled by increased transportation investments from federal, state and local governments,” but warned that delays to the surface transportation reauthorization, due Sept. 30, “could temper 2020 market growth.”
WATCHDOG TO RELEASE GLIDER REPEAL REPORT: EPA’s Office of Inspector General today will release its report on whether EPA ran afoul of two executive orders in its 2017 proposal repealing glider truck emissions rules. The OIG doesn’t usually get anywhere near policy decisions, but launched this probe when Senate Democrats alleged the agency cut corners by underestimating the repeal’s economic impact, in turn avoiding more stringent rulemaking requirements. The OIG in April warned Congress that OMB was stonewalling its probe; it’s not clear whether that issue was resolved.
Airports Council International-North America has hired Amanda La Joie as its new senior manager of advocacy and government and public affairs. She’ll manage the group’s Beyond the Runway coalition and lobby on environmental issues.
The American Waterways Operators, the national trade association for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, has promoted Jennifer Carpenter to be president and CEO.
Stratacomm, a D.C. communications firm, has hired several people to contribute to its work for the Transportation Department, including Darius Booker, Kara Frank, and Jenny Rios.
— “Boeing chief engineer at center of 737 MAX crisis retires.” Seattle Times.
— “Delayed MAX prompts Ryanair to cut jobs, close bases.” Wall Street Journal.
— “The case for Portland-to-Vancouver high-speed rail.” CityLab.
— “New treaty will make it easier to prosecute unruly passengers on international flights.” Washington Post.
— “Amazon, UPS and DHL are testing cargo bikes in New York City.” CNBC.
— “Ford is recycling McDonald’s coffee waste into car parts.” The Verge.
DOT appropriations run out in 15 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,396 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 301 days.
