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Transit advocates, unions and climate groups urge conference committee to protect transit funding and VMT law; unions oppose Northstar shutdown
Summary
Transit and climate advocates pushed the committee to preserve transit and active-transportation funding and to uphold the state's vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) greenhouse-gas law, while transit unions warned that ending Northstar commuter rail would cost jobs and require federal repayment.
Joe Harrington, policy manager at Our Streets, told the committee the house version of the omnibus bill would undercut Minnesota's VMT greenhouse-gas law and reduce active-transportation and transit funding. "Transportation is our largest source of emissions," Harrington said, urging support for the Senate provisions that permit MnDOT to consider transit, biking and pedestrian investments within trunk highway right-of-way.
Why it matters: Witnesses argued that delaying or weakening the VMT-related requirements and cutting transit funding will increase pollution, worsen traffic safety and reverse progress toward more equitable multimodal transportation systems.
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