After Lawyers for Good Government (“L4GG”) condemned the Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA”) for removing its support of climate and equity considerations in its guidance to states on how to spend $466 billion worth of funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (“BIL”) set aside for transportation projects, L4GG, along with its coalition partners, secured a key meeting with management at both the US Department of Transportation (“DOT”) and the FHWA to voice concerns relating to the revised guidance and to identify specific legal actions that both DOT and the FHWA can take to ensure that equity and climate are prioritized in state-level federal transportation spending. This work is a key component of L4GG’s larger strategy to ensure that BIL and Inflation Reduction Act funding is equitably implemented in states and local communities across the United States to prioritize equity and climate issues. 

L4GG coordinated with key coalition partners—NRDC, Communities First Infrastructure Alliance, Evergreen, and PolicyLink—to meet with over a dozen representatives at the FHWA, including the Director of FHWA and Secretary Pete Buttegieg’s undersecretary to discuss the FHWA’s removal of guidance on equity and climate considerations on the $300B allocated to states.  During the meeting, the coalition provided DOT and FHWA with concrete examples for incorporating equity and climate considerations in state-level transportation projects that involve federal funding.

In response to the meeting, the Director of FHWA, Shailan Bhatt, responded directly to L4GG attorneys in a letter, thanking L4GG for the meeting and restating the FHWA’s commitment to equity and climate change.  

Since the meeting with FHWA, L4GG, along with the coalition partners named above, have taken concrete steps to ensure FHWA adheres to this commitment, including providing comments on the IRA’s Environmental Review Implementation Program to ensure that streamlining projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, a key procedural hurdle needed to build highway infrastructure, does not cause negative equity or climate impacts.  Similarly, L4GG worked with key coalition partners and the Transportation Equity Caucus to provide detailed comments on DOT's Equity Action Plan.

In addition to this work, L4GG continues to work at the state and local levels to ensure the equitable implementation of federal dollars, including providing hands-on pro bono legal assistance to overburdened communities through the Decarbonization and Climate Resilience Clinic.