From McClatcheyDC:
President Donald Trump’s team has compiled a list of about 50 infrastructure projects nationwide, totaling at least $137.5 billion, as the new White House tries to determine its investment priorities, according to documents obtained by McClatchy’s Kansas City Star and The News Tribune.
The preliminary list, provided to the National Governor’s Association by the Trump transition team, offers a first glimpse at which projects around the country might get funding if Trump follows through on his campaign promise to renew America’s crumbling highways, airports, dams and bridges. The governor’s association shared that list with state officials in December. The group told the officials the projects on that list were “already being vetted.”
Among the projects could be a new terminal for the Kansas City airport, upgrades to Interstate 95 in North Carolina and a proposal to replace the nation’s radar-based air traffic control system with one called NextGen, based on satellites.
Another more detailed document obtained by the Star, circulated within the congressional and business communities, proposes funding an almost identical list of 50 projects as public-private partnerships, with half the money coming from private investment.
According to a senior congressional aide, the Trump team put together the priority list of “Emergency & National Security Projects. It includes cost estimates and job impact numbers. It is not clear whether that document is a draft or a final version.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The projects on that document are almost identical those listed on the spreadsheet circulated by the National Governors Association among state officials in December, seeking further suggestions.
The Trump team provided that spreadsheet to the governor’s association, said Elena Waskey, a spokeswoman for the group.
All but two projects on both lists are the same. The preliminary list circulated by the governor’s association includes the Alaska Pipeline & LNG Project instead of the Texas Central Railway and it lists the Fort Mojave Solar Project instead of the Howard Street Tunnel.
Some projects that governors suggested — in California and Washington state in particular — do not yet appear on either list.
The governors’ association has received 43 responses from states and territories so far, Waskey said.
“The total number of projects is more than 300,” Waskey said. “We are working to convene information for as many states as possible that we will then forward to the administration.”
Some states, such as Missouri, have more than one project listed, while others appear to have come up empty. Neither document lists any projects in Kansas, for example.*If interested, our 2007 series on trading politics uses as an example how the founding of The Economist, Britain's repeal of the Corn Laws and the growth of U.S. Agriculture combined to create a $265 million fortune (inflation adjusted) for Cyrus McCormick.
The National Governors Association asked governors’ offices last month for input on a preliminary list of infrastructure projects compiled by the Trump team, said Jaime Smith, a spokeswoman for Washington’s Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee.
“They seek examples of priority infrastructure projects that might be incorporated into a future infrastructure investment program,” said the letter from the governors’ association, dated Dec. 16. “Specifically, the transition team is looking for 3 to 5 project suggestions from each state that they would vet for inclusion in a new program.”
The letter said the vetting would be done by a bipartisan infrastructure commission overseeing investments.
“The initial spend on these projects for 2017 is expected to be $150 billion, and the transition team hopes that this type of project will be continued over the next 2 years,” according to the letter....MUCH MORE, including interactive tables.
It was helpful as we traded First Solar publicly, here on the blog, as the stock ran from the $20 IPO in November 2006 to the $317 top-tick in less than 18 months and then down to $11.43 over the next four years.
Global Warming, Politics, Laws and Opportunity
Global Warming, Politics, Laws and Opportunity--Part II
