In its announcement of nearly $5 billion in available funding for major bridge projects through the Bridge Investment Program, and up to $500 million for repairing/replacing bridges in rural areas through the Competitive Highway Bridge Program, DOT declared that it had removed “woke Biden-era requirements that tied critical infrastructure funding to social justice and Green New Scam climate initiatives.”
DOT noted, as an example of such climate-change and environmental-justice requirements, funding applicants’ obligation to address:
“how the project will consider climate change and environmental justice in the planning stage and in project delivery. In particular, applicants must address how the project reduces greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, incorporates evidence-based climate resilience measures and features, and reduces the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from the project materials. Applicants also must address the extent to which the project avoids adverse environmental impacts to air or water quality, wetlands, and endangered species, as well as address disproportionate negative impacts of climate change and pollution on disadvantaged or other affected communities, including natural disasters, with a focus on prevention, response, and recovery.”