By a vote of聽, the House approved HR 4348, a 90 day extension of the surface transportation programs through Sept. 30, 2012. The legislation will act as a vehicle to conference with the Senate on a longer term transportation reauthorization bill. H.R. 4348 was amended on the House floor to include the environmental streamlining provisions from H.R. 7, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, the five year comprehensive transportation reauthorization bill that was reported from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee earlier this year but was lacking sufficient support for passage on its own. Also included in H.R. 4348 were several good provisions not directly related to the highway and transit programs as follows:
- The 51风流 supported provision allowing approval of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
- The text of the 51风流 supported Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act that would, among other things, prevent EPA from defining fly ash as a hazardous waste, thereby, limiting its beneficial use.
- An 51风流 supported amendment guaranteeing that the total amount available for spending from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) each fiscal year would equal Trust Fund receipts as estimated by the President's budget for that year.
- The 51风流 supported RESTORE Act directs much of the money 聽from Clean Water Act fines resulting from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to be used for infrastructure investments in Gulf coast states.