Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty (HEP)
Environment
With passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the Congress made great strides in America's efforts to attain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The 1990 amendments required further reduction in the amount of allowable vehicle tailpipe emissions, initiated more stringent control measures in areas that still failed to attain the NAAQS-know as nonattainment areas-and provided for a stronger, more rigorous link between transportation and air quality planning. Further establishing this linkage, one year later, Congress passed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act-the ISTEA of 1991. This far-reaching legislation brought transportation into the multi-modal arena and also set the stage for an unprecedented focus on environmental programs. Part of this approach was the newly authorized Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program. Established with a five-year authorization level of $6 billion, the CMAQ program was conceived to support surface transportation projects and other related efforts that contribute air quality improvements and provide congestion relief.
Jointly administered by FHWA and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the CMAQ program was reauthorized under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in 1998, and, most recently in 2005 under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Under SAFETEA-LU, the program has provided just under $9 billion in authorizations to State DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations, and their project sponsors for a growing variety of transportation-environmental projects. As with its predecessor legislation, the SAFETEA-LU has provided CMAQ funding to areas that still face the challenge of attaining or maintaining the NAAQS. In addition, States that have no nonattainment or maintenance areas-facing much less of a clean air challenge-still receive a minimum apportionment of CMAQ funding. An apportioned program, each year's CMAQ funding is distributed to the States via a statutory formula based on population and air quality classification as designated by the EPA.
The SAFETEA-LU expanded the focus of eligible CMAQ project types, placing more priority on diesel engine retrofits and cost-effective emission reduction and congestion mitigation projects that also provide air quality benefits.