Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation: Oppose I-66 Widening in TPB Plan
Submit Comments Against Constructing the I-66 Spot Improvements
Deadline: April 14,2007
The Virginia Department of Transportation(VDOT) has asked the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) to amend its financially constrained long-range transportation plan(CLRP) and FY08-13 Transportation Improvement Program(TIP) to construct three discontinuous pieces of a third westbound travel lane along I-66 in Arlington.
ACTION:
1)Contact Your Locality’s TPB Member(s): Ask them to oppose adding the I-66 widening project to the CLRP and TIP inputs on April 18.  For a list of TPB members, see http://www.mwcog.org/committee/committee/members.asp?COMMITTEE_ID=15
2) Submit comments at the TPB website http://www.mwcog.org/transportation/public/default.asp
3) Address the TPB on April 18 at 12:00PM
Make a brief (3-minute or less) public statement at the TPB meeting.
Location: The TPB meets in DC, near Union Station, at 777 N Capitol St NE 20002, in the Council of Governments Board Room on the third floor.  Speakers must be signed up to speak by noon and may call 202-962-3315 to do so in advance.  You may bring written copies of your remarks (65 copies) for distribution at the meeting.
TALKING POINTS:
ACST’s basic objective is to demonstrate that VDOT's proposed widening of I-66 is a bad idea, is strongly opposed, and should not be approved (at least not now). Please use the talking points below to draft comments.

• The so-called I-66 "spot improvements" involve neither spots nor improvements and are unnecessary, counterproductive, and unwarranted.
• The proposed widening of I-66 would degrade, not improve, incident management, emergency operations, and traffic safety by creating new bottlenecks, narrowing travel lanes, and not preserving continuous wide safety shoulders on both sides of the roadway.  The TPB should direct VDOT to expeditously develop an effective and comprehensive emergency operations plan for I-66.
• The TPB, in approving a Studyof I-66 "spot improvements" in January 2006, directed VDOT to "ensure that spot improvements don't preclude a third Metrorail track and express bus operations,..maintain any adjacent parkland or the Custis Trail,...[evaluate] HOV enforcement areas [and] a continuous 12-foot shoulder,...[coordinate] with the ongoing efforts to develop a regional emergency evacuation plan," and not degrade safety; however, VDOT's study has not yet demonstrated that this project would comply adequately with any of these directives.
• Moreover, in January 2006, both the TPB and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority requested funding "for a long-range multimodal environmental document that will address the public transportation needs in the I-66 Multimodal Corridor,...[including] the ability to accommodate third and fourth Metrorail tracks in the median of I-66...[and] study value pricing and relatively low-cost traffic-operation solutions." VDOT failed to initiate that study by June 2003 and continues to avoid fixing I-66 traffic problems with demand management.
• VDOT's proposed widening of I-66 would negatively impact the adjacent Custis Trail, public open space, wetlands, forested habit, and other environmental and aesthetic mitigations specified in the 1977 Coleman Decision.  Moreover, there would be no protection against further I-66 widening, and a similar eastbound "spot" widening of I-66 could obliterate a critical segment of the adjacent W&OD Trail, now sandwiched between an I-66 noise wall and Four Mile Run.
• Global warming pollution due to human activity is the most profound challenge of human civilization, and climate scientists now say we must cut carbon dioxide emissions 80% by 2050 to avert environmental catastrophes, yet the widening of I-66 would clearly be a step in the wrong direction.
• The TPB should deny this off-year CLRP amendment as premature and ask all implementing agencies to only submit major new projects during its triennial (or quadrennial) CLRP and TIP update.  Doing so would not delay the I-66 project because VDOT can't complete preliminary engineering  before 2010 anyway, and all preconstruction activities are already approved.  The TPB's denial would promote much-needed analyses, transparency, and public participation.
• VDOT's proposal is a method to shoehorn three large segments of a third westbound I-66 travel lane with minimal consideration of the project's adverse environmental and regional travel impacts.  It disregards clearly superior alternatives, strong local opposition, and the 1977 Record of Decision, by USDOT Secretary William Coleman, that established I-66 inside the Capital Beltway as four managed freeway lanes with Metrorail in the median.
• Congestion on I-66 could be eliminated immediately, permanently, and with almost no construction cost or traffic disruption, simply by expanding the current hours of HOV-2 restrictions which have been overly limited to 2.5 hours Monday-Friday in one direction only.
• Introducing automated, variably priced tolls to I-66 could allow access by all autos at all times, provide an excellent express bus facility, preserve carpooling incentives, and provide much-needed transportation revenue for our region.
• VDOT's own I-66 feasibility study report, issued in March 2005, showed several non-widening, traffic-management alternatives to be clearly superior overall to the report's recommended third westbound lane.
• I-66 widening inside the Beltway is NOT part of ANY adopted local or regional transportation plan, including the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's TransAction 2030 Plan.
• VDOT's traffic analyses for the "Spot Improvements"have not adequately or objectively examined how this project could worsen traffic congestion in at least five different ways; namely: 1) at the two new bottlenecks along westbound I-66 in Arlington that this project would create, 2) on all highways that connect to westbound I-66, 3) along eastbound I-66 and all connecting highways, 4) at major intersections in Arlington and Fairfax County connected to I-66, and 5) along westbound I-66 in Arlington during many months of construction.

For More Information :
Summary of Proposed Significant Changes to the CLRP for 2007
CLRP Project Description Form for I-66 "Spot Improvement"
VDOT Project Website
Contact Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation(ACST):
PO Box 5574, Arlington, Virginia 22205-5574
703 271-0895 | info@acstnet.org
http://www.acstnet.org

Audubon Society of Northern Virginia: Comment on Environmental Impact Statement for Fort Belvoir
Public Meeting: April 17 at 6:00PM
Location: Mount Vernon High School, 8515 Old Mount Vernon Road, Alexandria, VA 22309
The U.S. Department of Defense plans to bring 22,000 jobs to Fairfax County. Under their preferred alternative, most would go to the Engineering Proving Ground.  Other associated business and contractoring firms would no doubt follow.  These actions will have huge environmental impacts on Northern Virginia.  The 60-day comment period on the draft environmental impact statement opened on March 2.  Belvoir officials will hold a public meeting on April 17, 6 p.m., Mount Vernon High School. 
For More Information:
Visit: www.belvoirnewvision.com. 
Contact: Glenda C. Booth, Vice President, Audubon Society of Northern Virginia at 703-765-5233

Audubon Society of Northern Virginia: Comment on Northern Virginia Refuges
Deadline: April 30, 2007
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking comments on the scope of their comprehensive conservation plans for Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge and Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge.  Deadline:  April 30. 
Visit www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id+51612.
For More Information Contact: Glenda C. Booth, Vice President, Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, 703-765-5233

Alliance for Chesapeake Bay: James River Sojourn
Date: June 16-23, 2007
Registration packets and Information are now online at www.AllianceChesBay.org. 

Workshop on Land Application of Biosolids in Virginia
Date: May 30, 2007
Location: Virginia Tech Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Blackstone, VIrginia
This workshop will provide information on the properties of biosolids and their effects on agricultural and forest ecosystems where they are land applied. Sponsored by the Department of Forestry and the Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Science at Virginia Tech.  Attached is the meeting announcement and a registration form.
Registration for the workshop will start at 8:00 AM and the presentations will begin at 9:00 AM.  There will be an afternoon field trip to visit several sites where biosolids have been land applied to forests. The focus of the workshop is to provide information to extension agents, DOF foresters, county administrators, state agencies, state legislators and their staff, and others who may get questions from the public on this practice.
For more information:
Contact Thomas R. Fox, Associate Professor of Forestry, Co-Director, Forest Nutrition Cooperative, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Forestry, 228 Cheatham Hall, Blacksburg,  Virginia 24061, Phone: (540) 231-8862, FAX: (540) 231-3330, Email: trfox@vt.edu,
Visit: http://www.forestry.vt.edu/faculty/fox.html or www.forestnutrition.org

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE - COASTAL PROGRAM
Deadline: September 30, 2007
Coastal ecosystems comprise less than 10 percent of the Nation's land area, but support far greater proportions of our living resources. Specifically, coastal areas support a much higher percentage of the Nation's threatened and endangered species, fishery resources, migratory songbirds, and migrating and wintering waterfowl. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service welcomes your participation in the Coastal Program. If you are interested in exploring the possibility of pursuing a cooperative agreement for assessment, protection, and/or restoration, or simply receiving technical advice, the first step is to contact your Coastal Program coordinator. A listing of all Coastal Program coordinators is available at: http://www.fws.gov/coastal. Funding decisions are made within the individual the local offices based on priority ranking factors.
Eligibility Requirements:
Federal, State, interstate and intrastate agencies; local and tribal governments; public nonprofit institutes and organizations (such as conservation organizations, watershed councils, land trusts, schools and institutions of higher learning); U.S. territories and possessions; private landowners including individuals and businesses. The Coastal Program is geographically limited to its geographic focus areas -- only projects that address coastal conservation in these specified areas can be funded. Contact your local Coastal Program coordinator if you are considering applying for assistance for a coastal conservation project. Submission requirements vary.
For More Information Visit http://ecos.fws.gov/coastal/index.do?viewPage=home

NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION'S COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Deadline: September 7, 2007
The program, sponsored by the Natonial Forest Foundation will support newly forming nonprofit organizations in need of capacity-building that intend to proactively and inclusively engage the local community in forest management and conservation issues on and around National Forests and Grasslands. CAP provides start-up grants in the range of $5,000 to $15,000 each, as well as basic tools and guidance, to enable newly forming grassroots community groups to resolve differences and play a more active role in the sustainable management of nearby national forests and surrounding communities. CAP funds can be used for a wide range of tools, including technical assistance, training, consultants, community outreach, obtaining 501(c)(3) status, group facilitation, basic start-up and operating costs, materials and equipment, program development, nonprofit management skill-building, and communications.
For more information: visit www.natlforests.org