State Legislative Transportation Policy Agendas Link to heading

In joint work with Gian-Claudia Sciara at the Graduate Program in Community and Regional Planning at the School of Architecture, Ross Buchanan at LLNL, Jim Henson and Josh Blank of the Texas Politics Project, and Doug Shinkle of the National Conference of State Legislatures and with support through the Fueling a Sustainable Energy Transition initiative at UT’s Energy Institute, we sought to understand key questions related to the role of state legislatures in the process of energy transition for transportation:

• How do state legislatures act as gatekeepers for national transportation policy?

• What are the priorities for state transportation fund?

• What are the constraints and opportunities posed by federal support and collaboration with states?

• What private and nongovernmental sector stakeholders are the key advocates for and conduits of change?

This work involved structured focus groups and direct interviews of state legislators and staffers that resulted in: “State legislator views on funding 21st century Transportation: Important problems, missed connections.” Transport Policy (2024) with Gian-Claudia Sciara and Ross Buchanan.

This led to a representative national survey of state legislators working in transportation that resulted in: “Views from the statehouse: Survey results from state legislative committee members.” Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives (2024) with Gian-Claudia Sciara.

Our research findings were distilled into a promotional video that speaks to a policy-oriented audience about the role of state legislatures in our transportation future:

To further connect this work to policy, we held a webinar with a group of state-legislators and academics sponsored by the Metro program at the Brookings Institution that distilled key lessons and prospects for future work

Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Policy & Economics Link to heading

This work began as a Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation-Supported initiative to understand the growth in industrial emissions related to lower cost of natural gas in the late 2010s. Our published research garnered significant media attention Reuters, Bloomberg, CNBC, Business Insider, Houston Chronicle, S&P Global, E&E News, AXIOS, Nasdaq, Scientific American, Texas Observer

This led us to consider greenhouse gas abatement options and policy incentives for “hard-to-abate” sectors

As part of a multidisciplinary and multi-institution team on “The Economics of Scaling Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage” supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Our work on the air quality impacts of CCUS allowed us to help to inform the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s review of Section 111 power plant emission rules, particular those affecting coal-fired power plants.

In the Spring of 2025, we convened policy-oriented academics, public sector experts, community group activists and oil and gas corporate representatives to discuss the state and frontiers of community-focused work related to the growth of CCUS in the Gulf Region.

A high-level summary of our discussion can be found here.

A subsequent workshop in Washington, D.C. convened a policy-oriented audience to discuss the future of carbon management in the new administration.

A high-level summary of that discussion can be found here.

That discussion was done in tandem with the 2025 Texas Carbon Management Workshop to establish research priorties on carbon management. A summary of that discussion can be found in our preprint.

Our July 2024 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science Opinion article sought to inform policymakers deliberating over the OBBBA about the need to reform the current design of the federal CCUS tax credit, 45Q.