Tiahrt
How do you open a speech dedicating a $105 million elevated railroad project? Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, went with a little partisan comedy.
Taking the stage in the cool mist this morning in front of roughly 100 engineers, politicians and business leaders, Tiahrt opened with this:
“Morning. It’s great to be with you at this day. And, whatever happened to global warming? (light laughter) I want to take that up with somebody. We’re looking for somebody in Washington right now. They’re still trying to figure out where the Nobel Peace Prize came from. Once they get past that, we’re going to be fine.”
Later, several engineers and city council member Janet Miller lauded the project for reducing carbon dioxide emissions produced by vehicles as they wait for trains to pass.
“Our community is in the midst of an ongoing battle every summer to limit our ozone levels,” Miller said in her speech. “Vehicle exhaust is one of the greatest contributors to those levels.” The background on that is that Wichita has nearly exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s threshold for ozone, which, if broken, could lead to significant expenses on transportation projects and strict restrictions on business expansions.
Tiahrt played a significant role in the rail corridor, whether he believes in global warming or not. (Tiahrt has said the debate is not settled.)
After the opening, Tiahrt explained the difficulty finding federal funds for the elevated railroad project as a second-year congressman. He said eventually he invited Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, then speaker of the House, to Wichita. They drove downtown, Tiahrt explained the problems with traffic and emergency vehicles being stopped by trains and re-routing. “He had kinda this ‘OK, thanks for doing this’ look on his face,” Tiahrt recalled. Later, the feds offered $5 million — a small contribution on a $105 million project. Then, after it became an issue with state transportation officials, federal funds paid about 40 percent of the final bill, Tiahrt said.
2 Comments
Do your part; I’ve begun my part by contributing $25 to the campaign fund of any politician who publicly and sincerely casts doubt on Anthropogenic Global Warming.
The debate has clearly not ended, and we are writing an economic death sentence for hundreds of millions if we allow cap and trade to become the law of the land.
The real credit for this project should go to former State Senator Paul Feleciano. While the feds contributed a pittance to the effort, it was Senator Feleciano’s insistence that this project be part of the 1999 Comprehensive Transportation Plan that made it a reality.
Thank you, Senator Feleciano.
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