Rep. Upthegrove gives presentation on transportation and climate change in Woods Hole, MA

On September 9 and 10, Rep. Dave Upthegrove (Des Moines), along with five other delegates from Washington state, participated in an Executive Workshop on State Transportation and Climate Change.

The event was held at the National Academy of Sciences’ J. Erik Jonsson Center in Woods Hole, MA, and was organized by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Center for Clean Air Policy. It was funded by the nonprofit Rockefeller Foundation and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, which covered the delegates’ costs of attendance.

Our state was one of five selected to send a delegation to the workshop, and Rep. Upthegrove was the only elected official from any of the state delegations. Other Washington delegates included officials from the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Puget Sound Regional Council, the Puget Sound Clean Air Authority, and the Transportation Choices Coalition. The purpose of the two-day workshop was to share information about effective strategies, and learn about the challenges – and successes – other states have had in attempting to reduce greenhouse gases from transportation. In our own state, the transportation sector makes up nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions.

While at Woods Hole, Rep. Upthegrove gave a presentation on the political challenges of addressing climate change in the transportation sector.

“It won’t be possible to end our dependence on foreign oil without reducing the carbon pollution from the transportation sector,” Upthegrove said after returning from Massachusetts. “But we can do this in a way that increases personal freedom and economic opportunity, and builds communities where American families can thrive.”