Lamborn oil shale bill seen by Boehner as possible transportation funding fix

Republican Doug Lamborn’s bill to speed up oil shale production in western Colorado has been packaged with House Speaker John Boehner’s American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (HR 7) as a means of funding the nation’s crumbling transportation infrastructure. But critics point out commercial oil shale production is potentially decades away and may never come to fruition.

Transportation a backburner issue, but state roads, bridges keep crumbling

With Colorado’s recession-plagued budget crisis as a backdrop, there’s been very little meaningful debate this election season about one of the most critical issues facing the state: how to fund desperately needed repairs for Colorado’s crumbling roads and bridges.

Colorado high-speed rail study comes as critics look to derail Obama plan

Even as passenger rail proponents and opponents in Colorado pick over the details of a high-speed rail feasibility study (pdf) released this week, criticism continues to swirl around the Obama administration’s $8 billion in stimulus funds meant to kick-start the nation’s languishing passenger rail network.

White plans to tweak FASTER bill this session

Easily one of the most divisive and hotly debated bills passed by the state legislature last session was SB 108, aka FASTER (Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation and Economic Recovery).

It was a hike in vehicle registration fees meant to raise $250 million a year to fix the 125 bridges around the state deemed structurally deficient, and it has become a rallying cry for Republicans around the state bent on recapturing seats in both the House and Senate next fall.

Colorado air-quality programs lose $31.5 million

Programs designed to improve Colorado’s air quality are taking the biggest hit from a significant federal take-back of transportation funds that occurred at the end of September.