Maryland's transportation secretary, John D. Porcari, is President Obama's choice to hold the number-two post at the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, the White House announced on April 10. His nomination is subject to Senate confirmation. PORCARI Porcari has led Maryland DOT since 2007, his second stint in the job. He also was the state agency's secretary from 1999 to 2002. Both times he served under Democratic governors. Between those two periods, Porcari was the University of Maryland's vice president for administrative affairs. Jane F. Garvey, former head of the Federal Aviation Administration and acting Federal Highway Administration chief in the
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has named Jordan Barab, a House Education and Labor Committee staffer, as deputy assistant secretary for the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. Barab, whose appointment was announced April 8, also will be acting head of OSHA, beginning April 13. House committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) said that Barab "will bring a tremendous amount of valuable health and safety experience to an agency that has been neglected for far too long." Barab, senior policy advisor for the committee, has worked for the panel for two years on health and safety matters. He came to the House committee
Peter M. Rogoff, a veteran Senate transportation aide, is President Obama's choice to lead the Federal Transit Administration, the White House announced on April 8. Rogoff has been a staffer on the Senate Appropriations Committee for 22 years, including 14 years as the top Democratic aide on the panel's transportation subcommittee, where he worked under Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). His nomination as FTA administrator is subject to Senate confirmation. Besides working on annual spending bills for the Dept. of Transportation, Rogoff also has played a role in the last three multi-year surface transportation reauthorization measures, beginning
As the $787.2-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) nears its two-month mark, federal agencies are picking up the pace in parceling out the measure’s estimated $130 billion for construction-related projects. The flow of funds, however, has been uneven. The Dept. of Transportation is in the fore-front obligating $4.7 billion in stimulus aid as of March 31. Most of that has gone to state highway agencies, which have begun to commit money and award construction contracts for specific projects. But other agencies, including the Dept. of Veterans Affairs and General Services Administration, only recently released lists of projects that they
President Obama has chosen Victor M. Mendez, former director of the Arizona Dept. of Transportation, as his nominee to head the Federal Highway Administration, the White House announced on April 2. His nomination now will be considered by the Senate. Mendez joined Arizona DOT (ADOT) in 1985 as a transportation engineer and rose through the ranks to become the agency's director in 2001. At ADOT, Mendez succeeded Mary E. Peters in the top job. Peters also left to be FHWA administrator and later became secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. Photo: Arizona DOT Victor M. Mendez Mendez was active
The Dept. of Veterans Affairs has released its list of about 1,000 projects, totaling nearly $1.3 billion, that it plans to carry out using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The vast majority of the projects on VA's list, dated April 2 and 3, are small, with many of them pegged at less than $1 million each. Under the economic-stimulus statute, the VA funds are available until Sept. 30, 2010. The projects are in three categories, the largest of which is $1.086 billion for 965 "non-recurring maintenance" and energy-related projects at VA facilities around the country. Energy-related projects,
Jo-Ellen Darcy, a long-time Senate staffer who has specialized in water and environmental issues, will be nominated as assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, the White House announced on March 31. The assistant secretary oversees the civil works program of the Army Corps of Engineers. Darcy currently is senior environmental advisor to the Senate Finance Committee. Before that, she spent more than a decade as a staffer on the Environment and Public Works Committee, where she played a key role in drafting Corps-related legislation. Her positions on the EPW staff included senior policy advisor and deputy staff director.
President Obama has chosen J. Randolph Babbitt, former president of the Air Line Pilots Association, as his nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, the White House said on March 27. Senior officials of airport associations praised Babbitt’s knowledge of the aviation industry. James C. May, president of the Air Transport Association, called him “a superb choice” for the top position at the FAA.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood continues to like the idea of a national infrastructure bank. Testifying at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on March 24, LaHood suggested that public-private partnerships and an infrastructure bank could help supplement the Highway Trust Fund in financing major projects. “The Highway Trust Fund is simply not going to allow us to do all that we need to do,” he said. The committee hearing is part of its preparation for the next surface transportation bill. LaHood also told the panel that hiking the motor-fuels tax should be off the table. “In these hard
Jonathan Z. Cannon, President Obama’s pick to be the Environmental Protection Agency’s deputy administrator, has withdrawn as a candidate, saying that a group on whose board he had served “has become the subject of scrutiny.” A 2007 EPA inspector general’s report said the group, America’s Clean Water Foundation, didn’t comply with federal financial, program management and procurement standards for EPA grants it received. Cannon said on March 25, “While my service on the board of that now-dissolved organization is not the subject of the scrutiny, I believe the energy and environmental challenges facing our nation are too great to delay
