Air Quality and Transportation Planning

Number: 1980-08

 

WHEREAS, it is a stated goal of the National Wildlife Federation that national transportation policy should both facilitate mobility and minimize air pollution; and

WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act requires that transportation plans and programs conform to implementation plans for the attainment and maintenance of National Ambient Air Quality Standards; and

WHEREAS, despite the requirements of the Clean Air Act, air quality standards in many urban areas continue to be violated; and

WHEREAS, dependence on automobile transportation is the primary cause for the violation, in urban areas, of air quality standards for carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and photo-chemical oxidants; and

WHEREAS, current urban development patterns inhibit the emergence of financially viable mass transit;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 20-23, 1980, in Miami Beach, Fla., hereby expresses its support for only such transportation plans and programs that: 1. conform with State Implementation Plans to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards; 2. contain all reasonable transportation control measures to attain and maintain air quality; 3. contain comprehensive public transportation plans to serve basic transportation needs; and 4. provide for the attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards by the deadlines required by law; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges the development of a transportation planning process which includes policies and strategies for future density patterns which promote mass transit.