Transportation

"A summer of ramped-up opposition to the Line 3 oil pipeline in northern Minnesota kicked off Monday as some 1,000 opponents began protesting and disrupting construction work, starting with a blockade at the entrance of an Enbridge Energy pump station south of Itasca State Park."

"President Joe Biden and Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito had a “constructive and frank” discussion on Wednesday about revitalizing U.S. infrastructure and agreed to talk again on Friday, the White House said."

"Officials from California, New York and other states urged the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday to allow California to set its own automobile tailpipe pollution standards, an action that would reverse a Trump administration policy and could help usher in stricter emissions standards for new passenger vehicles nationwide."

"Behind closed doors, shipbuilders and miners can speak on behalf of governments while regulating an industry that pollutes as much as all of America’s coal plants."

"Biden is making a big push to produce electric vehicles and batteries in the U.S. with “good-paying union jobs.” But the details of how that’s all going to work are still fuzzy."

"Built in the 1950s to speed suburban commuters to and from downtown, Rochester’s Inner Loop destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, replacing them with a broad, concrete trench that separated downtown from the rest of the city."

"A team of international researchers has assembled an atlas of microorganisms present in 60 cities around the world."

"A bipartisan bill to fund highways, roads, and bridges set to be considered on Wednesday perpetuates the U.S. transportation system’s entrenched safety, sustainability, and inequality problems, advocacy groups say. The $303.5 billion highway bill that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is scheduled to mark up would boost funding by 34% compared with the last long-term surface transportation law."

"The Biden administration is moving forward with mandatory cybersecurity requirements for pipelines, according to a person briefed on the plans, following the ransomware attack earlier this month that paralyzed the biggest fuel pipeline in the nation."

"Negotiations between the White House and Senate Republicans over President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan are hitting a crucial stage ahead of talks Friday after the latest GOP offer left some dismay in the administration that there wasn’t more movement off the Republicans’ initial $568 billion proposal."