cars

T&I locks down Boeing CEO appearance


With help from Brianna Gurciullo and Alex Guillén

Editor’s Note: This edition of Morning Transportation is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Transportation subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. Learn more about POLITICO Pro’s comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, at politicopro.com.

The House Transportation Committee has confirmed that Boeing’s CEO and other senior officials will testify at an October hearing on the 737 MAX.

The U.S. aviation system doesn’t need an overhaul, according to the head of a high-profile review of the MAX.

Nine environmental groups are suing DOT over its move to block California’s greenhouse gas emissions rules.

IT’S MONDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports. It’s recess (again), but the news never stops. Get in touch with tips, feedback or song lyric suggestions at smintz@politico.com or @samjmintz.

“I’m sitting in the railway station. / Got a ticket to my destination. / On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand. / And ev’ry stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band.”

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.

HOUSE COMMITTEE CONFIRMS BOEING CEO APPEARANCE: The House Transportation Committee, which has been going back and forth with Boeing about whether the company will allow senior executives to testify about the 737 MAX, has locked down a date. CEO Dennis Muilenburg, chief engineer of the commercial airplanes division John Hamilton, and chief 737 pilot Jennifer Henderson will appear before the committee on Oct. 30. As our Brianna Gurciullo reports, Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) had threatened to subpoena the executives if necessary.

Years before it started developing the 737 MAX, Boeing created a version of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System for a military refueling jet, but the design included “deliberate checks against the system acting erroneously or causing a pilot to lose control,” The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Expect lawmakers to ask Muilenburg why the MAX’s MCAS wasn’t designed the same way.

COMING SOON: A trio of House Democrats are launching a new caucus: the Future of Transportation Caucus. It will be co-chaired by Chuy García, Ayanna Pressley and Mark Takano. They’re planning to officially launch in mid-October, and according to an aide to García, the goal is to rethink the status quo of transportation and infrastructure policy. It will look at issues like boosting transit-oriented development and fighting climate change and will partner with the advocacy groups Transportation for America and Smart Growth America.

Not to be confused with: the Smart Transportation Caucus, an existing group that’s focused on autonomous vehicles.

HART: NO OVERHAUL NEEDED POST-MAX CRASHES: The chairman of the Joint Authorities Technical Review of Boeing’s 737 MAX told Reuters he doesn’t believe the U.S. aviation system is “broken” or needs a complete revamp, but the crisis does show that the system can get better. Christopher Hart, a former NTSB chairman, said the JATR will give recommendations to the FAA “shortly.”

People will “sooner of later forget” about the accidents, Hart told students at the Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology in New York. He contended that the MAX “will be the safest airplane out there by the time it has to go through all the hoops and hurdles.”

MAIL BY DRONE: The U.S. Postal Service is looking into using drones for mail delivery vehicles, according to a request for information posted last week. “The Postal Service seeks information from UAS operators and developers interested in providing aircraft and aircraft operations for delivery of mail and to collect geodetic/spatial data to improve all autonomous vehicle performance,” the notice reads. The uses could include long driveways (a drone would be launched from a vehicle to make the delivery while the carrier keeps going), remote or difficult deliveries, a ride-sharing model, or infrastructure as a service.

SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETS THIS WEEK: The FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, which has had its meetings scaled back by the Trump administration as we reported earlier this month, gathers today for the first time in 14 months to talk about automated driving systems for commercial vehicles and other issues regarding truck and bus safety.

MORE LEGAL CHALLENGES OVER CALIFORNIA RULE: Nine environmental groups filed their own lawsuit on Friday against the Transportation Department over its move last week to block California’s vehicle greenhouse gas regulations. Like the lawsuit California already filed, the new suit targets just the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s portion of the rule, which declared the 1975 law that created the national fuel economy program preempts the state’s greenhouse gas rules. Further lawsuits over the EPA portion of the rule, which formally withdrew the state’s Clean Air Act waiver, are expected to follow.

In other news: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wants EPA’s inspector general to review the agency’s threat to withhold highway funding from California over outstanding air quality issues. More details can be found in this story by Pro Energy’s Alex Guillén.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The FHWA is going after a local crosswalk design in Ames, Iowa. As Robbie Sequeira writes for the Ames Tribune, the federal agency has requested that an “inclusion-themed crosswalk, decorated with pride rainbow colors,” be removed because it’s not in compliance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways. The city council is looking into it, according to the Tribune; there are questions about who has final jurisdiction over the intersection.

FTA HEAD GOES HARD AT GATEWAY SPONSORS: The Federal Transit Administration’s acting administrator slammed a state-sponsored funding proposal for the Gateway Tunnel, saying in a letter to The New York Times that the sponsors have failed to prove they “can deliver the project on time and on budget,” POLITICO New Jersey’s Ryan Hutchins reports. K. Jane Williams was responding to an editorial in the paper, suggesting the project be built and named the Donald J. Trump tunnel. “No matter whose name is on it, the project is ineligible for federal funding because the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s proposal submitted last year did not meet the requirements in law,” Williams wrote.

NEWCOMERS ALERT: TSA has added two members to its aviation security advisory panel: Sarah Wolf from the National Business Association of America and Wolfgang Koch of the Air Line Pilots Association. The agency also reappointed 12 members to the panel. Our Stephanie Beasley has more details on the full list.

— “Latam Airlines shares jump over 30% after Delta says it will buy stake.” Reuters.

— “Musk unveils SpaceX rocket designed to get to Mars and back.” Associated Press.

— “Here’s what Lucid Motors’ $700 million EV factory will look like.” The Verge.

— “Americans’ readiness for Real ID in doubt as 2020 deadline nears.” Washington Post.

— “U.S. FAA requiring inspections for cracks on some 737 NG planes.” Reuters.

— “CSX railroad chief Pete Carpenter sought better relations with workers.” Wall Street Journal.

DOT appropriations run out in 52 days. The FAA reauthorization expires in 1,463 days. Highway and transit policy is up for renewal in 368 days.





READ NEWS SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.