Salud Carbajal Questions Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg On Innovation In Airport Infrastructure

last year

Last month, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) questioned Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on airport infrastructure during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Carvajal is recognized for five minutes.

00:02Thank you, Madam Chair. Secretary Buttigieg, I understand that the U.S. Department of

00:07Transportation has announced that $520 million is available for Cycle 1

00:13Charging and Fueling Infrastructure, CFI. This is for applications that are highly recommended

00:19or recommended. In my district on the central coast of California,

00:24the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments is spearheading a $20 million

00:28grant application that would fund the installation of 21 direct current DC

00:35fast charging stations along the U.S. 101. SPCAG's application has been listed as recommended.

00:42When should applicants start hearing from your department regarding the outcome of their

00:47applications? Thank you for the question. We're hard at work on the CFI program, which is a

00:53companion to the NEVI program. Already 47 awards have been made amounting to $623 million, and of

01:02course future rounds will bring future awards. We'll be happy to get more information to your

01:07office about a timeline. I know that we had our latest notice of funding opportunity out on May

01:1330th. Part of what we're trying to do with those rolling applications is to get quicker answers to

01:17our project sponsors because we know how important these facilities, especially those DCFC, DC fast

01:23charging facilities that are challenging sometimes for the private sector to do on their own.

01:27We know how important those are to communities like those that you serve. Thank you. I want to

01:32pivot to another issue of importance to my district that was brought to my attention by the County

01:37of San Luis Obispo. For decades, the federal government has required commercial service

01:42airports to use Florentine firefighting foams that contain PFAS. The recently passed FAA

01:50reauthorization bill includes a provision that I helped write for a new grant program that gives

01:55airports $350 million over the next five years to assist in their transition from aqueous

02:03film forming foam, AFFF, to fluorine-free foam, F3, or foams that don't contain PFAS.

02:11What is the FAA doing now to help airports in their transition to these new foams?

02:17Well, thank you for your attention to this issue. We know this is not just an environmental and

02:22safety concern, but also an economic concern for airports. FAA has done a lot of technical work,

02:29found that performance standard in partnership with DOD that does not require the use of PFAS.

02:34Now that that new standard has been put forward, there is a transition plan, an aircraft firefighting

02:43foam transition plan, published roughly a year ago with stakeholders from the DOD to firefighters

02:49to environmental groups. We will continue to work closely with our airport partners,

02:54helping them identify best practices, helping them prepare for this transition, and to the extent

02:59resources are an issue for them, welcome further opportunities to work with you on making sure

03:03they have what they need. Thank you. Last year, OMB finally, after two years of uncertainty,

03:10clarified the Buy America provisions established in the bipartisan infrastructure law

03:15that do not apply to construction materials such as aggregate and asphalt binder. This would have

03:21put significant restrictions on supply chains for aggregate and asphalt binder. Will the

03:27administration continue to pursue new Buy America provisions, and if so, does the administration plan

03:34to allow for waivers on manufactured products? We are continuing to work to try to ensure that

03:42project delivery is kept swift and affordable while meeting our Buy America commitments.

03:48The new guidance, we hope, is helpful to our project sponsors. We know that sometimes it

03:53needs interpretation, and we want to make sure that we provide further guidance as needed.

03:58The Federal Highway FAA, FTA, and FRA rules for iron and steel and manufactured products have not

04:05changed, but we continue to be ready to work on, whether it's waivers or policy guidance,

04:11to help make sure our project sponsors understand what's required. Thank you. Mr. Secretary,

04:17one of the FAA's most successful and cost-effective government industry partnerships for taxpayers

04:23is the FAA Contract Tower Program. There are 264 airports in the program,

04:29including the Slough County Airport in my district. This critical air traffic program

04:35safety program supports general aviation operations, DoD flight training operations,

04:42and military readiness, commercial air service, and flight schools across the country. What

04:48assurances can you give us that contract towers will remain a high priority for DoD and FAA?

04:55These are certainly an important part of our national aviation system. There's currently a

05:00total of 263 contract towers in the program. I would note, as one indication of the importance

05:06we place on them, that the President's fiscal 25 budget request seeks $256 million to fund

05:14that program. It includes measures to try to cover the cost growth that has taken place.

05:20Vendor contract prices have escalated about 22 percent from 2020 to December last year.

05:26We're continuing to work to help them keep up. Thank you very much. I yield back.

Salud Carbajal Questions Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg On Innovation In Airport Infrastructure

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