FTA's Rogoff calls on Congress to fund emergency relief program

The Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) emergency response program was "extraordinarily successful" in rapidly responding to transit needs in Hurricane Sandy's wake, but without action from Congress, the program won't have the necessary funding to respond to similar emergencies elsewhere, FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff told a congressional committee yesterday.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held an oversight hearing to examine the status of Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts and federal agencies’ progress in implementing recovery objectives, allocating assistance funding and meeting deadlines.

The superstorm, which made landfall in New Jersey on Oct. 29, 2012, was responsible for 131 deaths and $50 billion in damage. In response, Congress approved the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act to provide emergency disaster assistance. The act included the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013, which was passed to speed up and streamline disaster recovery programs.

Rogoff testified that the FTA worked with the U.S. Department of Transportation's larger effort to develop a rapid response strategy to assistant transit providers in the short run, while laying the foundation for federal aid funding in the months ahead.

While FTA successfully responded to the needs of Sandy, the administration has only those emergency relief funds that Congress made available exclusively for Sandy response, Rogoff warned.

"The president's fiscal-year 2013 and 2014 budget requests each sought $25 million to capitalize the Emergency Relief Program for disasters throughout the country," he said. "To date, Congress has not appropriated those funds. I strongly encourage Congress to appropriate those funds so, when the next disaster strikes and takes public transportation systems offline, FTA will be in a position to respond immediately."

Rogoff also stated that the FTA's first and highest priority for promoting resiliency among transportation systems is to project existing infrastructure and equipment from the impact of the next disaster.

"The Disaster Relief Act allows funding to be directed to projects that reduce the risk of damage from future disasters in areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy," he said.

The agency already has allocated $1.3 billion for locally prioritized resiliency projects for transit agencies in the New York-New Jersey metro region. About $3 billion will be available for resiliency project through a competitive process that will evaluate projects designed and built to address future transportation vulnerabilities, Rogoff said.