WEBVTT

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Our electric vehicle infrastructure
program, where we're distributing

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$5 billion to states to establish

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a car charging network along our highways,

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as well as a companion program called
Community Charging, which is another 2.5.

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They do carry standards.

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We don't want to dictate, of course, all
of the particulars of charging stations

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that will typically be owned
and operated by the private sector

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but we do need to make sure certain
things are true about them.

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We need to make sure that you are not,

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for example, confined to an individual

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network in order to

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be able to purchase power
from a given charging station.

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Right now, that's often the case.

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So it's as if, you know,
you could only fill up at a Speedway

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gas station if you were a Speedway member,
but not if you were a BP member, right.

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We need to make these interoperable.

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And accessibility
is one of the considerations

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that's going into this as well.

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And as we work with our counterparts
in the Department of Energy

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to lay out those requirements
and expectations for

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the states in their investments,

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we're going to be, within reason,

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laying out some

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standards and expectations
for how those chargers

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ought to work.

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Well, you know, one thing we're trying to
support is active transportation.

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So we need to make sure that people
are able to walk or bike or roll

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to wherever they need to be
and I think that's something that has been

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maybe more familiar for people
living in city centers of dense

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urban areas but can bring
benefit everywhere in the country.

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When we adopted a Complete Streets
approach in my hometown of South

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Bend, for example, that really opened up

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what had been a road pattern

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that was almost hostile to any traffic
besides a vehicle.

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Really opened that up to people
and through that to small business too,

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because it became a more inviting place
to have a cup of coffee

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or browse the store.

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So all of these things add up to,
I think, a more vibrant local economy,

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and they add up to more ease for people
getting to where they need to go.

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Especially when you start
from the principle of safety.

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And that's really what's on our mind
as we work

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to make active transportation
available to more Americans.

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Many of our grant programs do just that.

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E-bikes hold the promise of making it

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more natural

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for a lot of people
to commute to work by bike.

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I think that they present

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an opportunity in terms of people
who are maybe

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don't think of themselves as athletes
or aren't able to

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bike longer distances on traditional bike

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to now have a convenience to get around.

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Again,
safety has to be our guiding principle.

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So, you know, local communities,
I think, are dealing with the necessity

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of managing the

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shared spaces
and just the rules of the road

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in a way that it is safe
because these e-bikes can go

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obviously faster, not just farther
than traditional bicycles,

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but we see a lot of potential there
and we want to support local community

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visions for how they want
to put these technologies to use.

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The great thing about this role
and the daunting thing about this moment

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is that we need to be delivering
improvements to every mode

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of transportation in the country and,
you know, we have provisions

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in this new infrastructure law
that touch on everything from

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commercial aviation to pipeline safety.

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We're administering a pipeline safety
improvement program

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that's not getting as much attention
as some of the other things,

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but it just gives you a sense of the range
of what we do.

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We work on commercial space travel, port

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improvements, anything related
to how people or goods move around.

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We tend to have some role in it
and what we're very proud of

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with this infrastructure
deal is the opportunity

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to make more improvements than we have in
certainly my lifetime.

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Everything from the ASAP program
that we're rolling out next week,

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improvements to stations across
the country for transit, accessibility

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to the airport terminal program,

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which also by the way,
did a lot for accessibility.

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A lot of

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ADA improvements are coming to airports
around America now through this funding,

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and we're proud to be able to bring that
to communities of different sizes.

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By many measures, the U.S.

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doesn't have a single airport
in the world's top 25 now.

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And that we want to change.

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The president
definitely wants to change it.

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And it starts with the basics,
making sure that airports

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before we even get to the
the finer points of the esthetics of it,

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we just need to make sure they work well
and that they work well for everybody.

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So this round of terminal grants

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alone was 84 different airports
we're able to make a difference.

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And there are big recognizable ones
like L.A.X.

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all the way down to

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Chamberlain, South Dakota,

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where they're general aviation terminal
right now is a mobile home.

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And we're funding them a new building.

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But in places like in between,
like Huntsville, Alabama,

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which will get better restrooms and

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finally be able to get

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ADA compliance in areas
where they hadn't before.

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There was the Cash For Clunkers program,
I think during the Obama administration,

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the approach that we've pursued
has had to do with

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reducing the upfront sticker
price of EVs through tax credits,

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although unfortunately there's

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been a lot of congressional,
mostly Republican opposition to that.

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So it hasn't passed,
but we are seeing that the scale effects

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are starting
to pull down the cost of EVs too.

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The cost of charging is a little different
because it's in the hands of utilities

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that there are 3000
different utilities across the country.

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But we're certainly interested to see
what kinds of approaches will be taken

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locally.

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For example, you know,

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I used to run a utility as mayor
because I ever saw the water works.

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And one of the uses that my successor put
rescue plan dollars to was to reduce

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or forgive utility bills for low
income residents on their water charges.

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So there are ways this can be done.

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It varies from state to state,
and it gets a little difficult

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for us from the federal level
on the transportation side of the House

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to have all the visibility into that.

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But we're certainly interested
in approaches to make the charging as well

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as the purchasing of electric vehicles
more affordable for more Americans.

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One thing that a lot of folks
don't realize is that you can often charge

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a vehicle with a

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regular wall plug.

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That's what

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frankly, that's what Chasten and I do
in Michigan with our plug in hybrid,

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although it's quicker and more efficient
if you can get a level two charger.

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But that only helps you if you live in
a single family home or you have a garage.

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A lot of people in multi-family
dwellings also live in areas

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where it's not yet profitable
for a company to install a charger.

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For example, in the parking
lot of your apartment building.

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That's where we think the community
charging funding that we're going to be

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distributing can make a difference.

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We buy down the difference

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where it doesn't pencil out
just yet for the private sector,

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but when we get that charger up, it helps
drive adoption and helps, of course,

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people get in on the fuel savings
that come with owning.

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That's funded for this fiscal year.

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We'll get the first of five years,
which across five years

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will be two and a half billion.

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That will go alongside the 5 billion.

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So about 1 billion a year that's
going to the states for their own plans.

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Those are more toward
building out the network of

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chargers across the U.S.

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highway system.

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You know, we do everything

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from overseeing the Academy for Merchant
Mariners at Kings Point, New York

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to licensing commercial space launches
and so I think everybody knows

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we're the Department
of Planes, trains and automobiles.

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But even I am repeatedly struck by the
sheer range of things we get to work on.

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But they're all important and they're
all there and they're all exciting.

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And there's never been a better
time to do this work.

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Yeah, it's

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you know, we're trying to strike
an appropriate balance

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in terms of our own travel,
even just how I get around the city.

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So one idea that I, to be honest, stole
from Secretary Granholm was to convert

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one of my security detail vehicles
to an electric car so that I can

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get around

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DC on it on a zero emissions basis.

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But of course part of my job is to travel
to be in lots of different places

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at once,
we want to see, feel and experience

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what's happening on the ground

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so that we can make the best
possible decisions as we guide

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what's ultimately going to be roughly
half of the $1.2 trillion of the

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president's infrastructure plan.