At the workshop on February 9, 2009, a question was asked about why 1990 was always used as a baseline for comparison of greenhouse gas emissions. The year 1990 was the year used as the baseline in the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. The countries that ratified the protocol (virtually all countries in the world except the U.S.) committed to assigned amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, based on 1990 emissions.

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Join us on December 18 from 10 - 2 pm for the second in a series of four workshops for MARC's Eco-Logical project! This workshop will be led by Aron Borok with Environmental International out of Portland. The workshop will include discussions related to new best practices research on linking environmental and transportation planning, as well as break out sessions regarding an action plan to make our transportation planning more sustainable. Your input will help shape Kansas City's transportation future.
Go here for more information, including registration: http://www.marc.org/Sustain/Transportation/eco_workshop.asp

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At Eco-Logical Workshop #1, Sustainable Transportation Planning, Hal Kassoff mentioned that the landmark court case in transportation planning was the Overton Park case (Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402) which was decided on March 2, 1971 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 does not allow the Secretary of Transportation to approve any project requiring the use of public parks, recreation areas, wildlife and waterfowl refuges, or historic sites unless there is no feasible and prudent alternative. This court case set a very high standard, making it clear that these resources must be avoided unless there are "uniquely difficult problems" or "costs or community disruption of extraordinary magnitude." Overton Park is in the Midtown neighborhood just east of downtown Memphis. The road that was intended to be I-40 (now called Sam Cooper Boulevard) dead ends into the eastern side of the Park. Through traffic is routed on I-240. Overton Park contains an old-growth forest, the Brooks Museum of Art, and the Memphis Zoo. The Overton Park case emphasizes the importance of identifying significant environmental resources during transportation planning and taking actions to avoid and minimize impacts to these areas.

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