Thursday, September 27, 2007
By: Leslie K. Paige

Wastewatcher, September 2007

The I-35 Bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which resulted in the deaths of 13 people, dominated several news cycles and gave politicians the kind of somber photo ops they can rarely resist.  In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) called for an increase in the federal gas tax to pay for bridge repairs.  And Congress went back to business as usual, earmarking billions of tax dollars for frivolous projects in the fiscal 2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act.

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