Advocates for Safe and Efficient Transportation (ASET)

Advocates for Safe and Efficient Transportation (ASET) was organized by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) in 1999 to represent private and public sector interests in challenged Clean Air Act (CAA) conformity cases. It includes nine groups representing organized labor and public and private sectors of the construction industry. ASET's goals are:

to establish federal case law that anti-growth groups cannot challenge conformity decisions under the citizen suit provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and that they generally lack legal standing to bring such challenges;
to defend government agency adequacy determinations, conformity approvals, and other "building blocks" of the conformity process on their substantive merits;
to convince courts and government entities that transportation conformity approvals should not be retroactively invalidated, thereby halting or delaying planned and approved projects, if flaws are discovered; rather, these flaws should be addressed in future emissions budgets, Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs) and State Implementation Plans (SIPs); and
to demonstrate to regulators that industry will be an ally in supporting and defending their sound conformity decisions against challenges by anti-growth groups

ASET has established itself as an expert in CAA conformity and is increasingly consulted when such issues arise around the country. ASET retains the law firm of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. to monitor CAA conformity developments across the United States. ASET meets at least once a month to discuss these developments and determine how these developments will impact ASET members. ASET makes case-by-case determinations about legal involvement in specific actions and has built a body of knowledge that ASET members draw on to advocate for regulatory and legislative reforms to the transportation planning and development process.

ASET's involvement in CAA conformity cases is vital because:

ASET has an in-depth body of knowledge on CAA conformity issues that does not exist elsewhere;
Only ASET will vigorously defend the interests of the construction industry. Government entities, especially local units of government, have limited resources to defend CAA conformity cases. As a result, the government has strong incentives to settle cases out of court, often to the detriment of transportation improvement projects. ASET's presence will deter secret backroom deals and help ensure that settlements consider the construction industry's vital interests. ASET has a clear policy that it will support all projects that have already been vetted through the transportation planning process;
ASET can make legal arguments that the government, as a matter of policy, often will not make. For instance, the government often will not challenge the legal "standing" of anti-highway groups to bring legal challenges to the conformity process. Such challenges are central to ASET's mission;
It is vital that when court decisions are rendered they are based on sound and full legal arguments. In the past, the industry has been severely harmed from bad legal precedent. Only if ASET is involved in the litigation can we ensure that all of the important legal issues are raised and good legal precedent is set;
ASET sends a clear message to no-growth groups that their often-frivolous lawsuits will not go unchallenged. ASET has proven itself to be a formidable adversary; and
ASET can raise policy issues that might not be apparent to the court or other parties. Namely that delaying or stopping planned transportation projects can have public health and safety consequences that may dwarf asserted marginal improvements (or non-improvements) in air quality.

The very significant legal expenses incurred by ASET are financed by voluntary member contributions to support ASET's efforts.

ASET includes the following members: