Aii Asks: What’s the best way of funding surface transportation infrastructure? Question: Policymakers and politicians seem to generally agree that America’s infrastructure is need of a facelift. But when it comes to paying, neither party seems willing to advance a plan for these much needed updates. Our policy team asks,…
Beginning in October 2004, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month has continually drawn attention to the issue of cybersecurity and the resources available to ensure Internet safety on a national scale. Since its creation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM)…
Hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters can be truly devastating. Not only are precious lives lost, but property damage can decimate local communities and business activity. As concerns over climate change cause many to fear stronger or more frequent storms, one simple solution stands ready to protect lives, economic activity,…
Environmentalists and activists on the further reaches of the green movement occasionally go as far as to say ‘leave all fossil fuels in the ground.’ While a legitimate fear of climate change may make this view understandable, it is ultimately misguided. Modern life unequivocally requires fossil fuels, but that doesn’t…
As China celebrates 70 years of communist rule, the U.S. Congress is mulling over the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to reauthorize funding and programs within the Department of Defense. Within that national security bulwark is a simple provision aimed at Chinese encroachment. The Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act (TIVSA),…
Will FERC Consider Cumulative GHG Impacts of New Pipeline Projects? It’s Complicated The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) made a little noticed determination over the course of 2018’s summer that modified how the commission performs environmental reviews moving forward – specifically, how and if they consider cumulative greenhouse gas (GHG)…
Aii Trivia Question 2 – 7/2/18 Of the approximately 126 million households in the U.S., how many DO NOT have access to high speed Internet? 16% 53% Answer: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 126.22 million U.S. households in 2017. According to data aggregation website Statista, 106.07 million…
We asked: Do you think pipelines are safe? According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, “more than 2.6 million miles of pipelines safely deliver trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of billions of ton/miles of liquid petroleum products each year.” 166…
What is Innovation? No one really seems to know. Few can agree on a comprehensive definition because it means different things in different contexts. But most definitions align on three points. For an idea to be innovative (1) the idea must be new, (2) the idea must create value, and…
Defining Infrastructure To engage in comprehensive and intelligent discussion regarding our nation’s infrastructure policy, we first need to be thoughtful about what qualifies as “infrastructure.” There is no unanimously adopted definition of infrastructure across sectors or policy lexicon. Many definitions describe “infrastructure” as the physical components of various systems that…
While power is back on at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport, the question remains: what happened to make the busiest airport in the world lose power for 11 hours on Sunday and strand tens of thousands of passengers for days?[1] Basically, an electrical fire in a tunnel beneath the airport…
Last June, Congress passed and the President signed the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016 (PIPES Act). Among the bill’s numerous other provisions was a hidden gem. Congress asked the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) to conduct a study on how new technologies…
Aii Founder and Chairman, Brigham McCown, was privileged to speak to the students and faculty at the Schar School of Policy and Government and Scalia Law School at George Mason University on the importance of grid security and maintaining our infrastructure. Covering both policy and technical issues to energy policy,…
By Samuel G. Bonasso, PE FASCE* As we look up at the sky and dream of tomorrow’s new sustainable infrastructure ideas, we must also remember to look at what is under our feet. The answer to many of the problems which drive our sustainable infrastructure concerns today will not be…
On Wednesday, September 6, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Energy & Commerce Committee’s SELF DRIVE Act (H.R. 3388) – the first comprehensive autonomous vehicle legislation (AV) to reach the floor of either chamber of Congress. This bill, which passed out of committee with unanimous, bipartisan support…
