Nevada leaders promote green transportation

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Hands holding a gasoline fuel nozzle and electric charging cable in the foregrounds, with two vehicles in the background.
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(Nevada News Service)
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Nevada needs additional electric school buses, charging stations and more so the state can grow sustainably, according to clean transportation advocates.

Leaders are calling for more federal funding to support electrification of the transportation sector.

Representative Dina Titus, D-Nevada, said there need to be more bike paths and wider sidewalks to get people out of their cars and improve air quality.

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"You need to have more electrification, more public transit. Las Vegas rated 13th-worst metropolitan area by the American Lung Association, and we need to fix that," Titus stressed.

Titus serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which recently approved the bipartisan Build America 250 Act by a margin of 62-2. The bill would reauthorize surface transportation funds for the next five years. The proposal still needs full approval in the House before it can head to the Senate.

Olivia Tanager, director of the Toiyabe chapter of the Sierra Club, said improvements to public transportation will help address the affordability crisis and encourage more people to live in the city center near transit, which helps control water-intensive sprawl.

"We need investment in public transportation in order to develop in a way that is transit-oriented to reduce our water footprint and continue the long-term sustainability of life in Southern Nevada," Tanager urged.

Titus called on Congress to keep land use, transportation and air quality in mind when budgeting for the future.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Republicans in Congress last summer rolled back federal tax credits for charging infrastructure and electric vehicles.