two infrastructure development has led new englanders with some of the highest electricity costs in the nation particularly so through extreme winters the recent cold snap highlighted the difference between policymakers and regions and embrace america's energy abundance and those that do not for example they were englanders have been subject to some of the highest electricity costs in the nation well above national average because of resistance to infrastructure development but the trump administration's infrastructure plan release earlier this year is set to change all of that with an aggressive one point five trillion dollar plan that includes a sophisticated energy pipeline but an unexpected hurdle has been president trumps a recent twenty five percent tariff on steel and ten percent tariff on aluminum as terrorist on pipeline materials could be especially problematic for the industry

since a large share of these products are imported at another major development and holding back the building of new pipelines has been funding we did growth for american shale in recent years the industry estimates that roughly one trillion dollar is needed in infrastructure costs over the next two decades in order to keep pace with increasing oil and gas production demands with one third of that being spent on new pipelines but the good news is that direct capital investment for the construction of new pipelines will average fifty five billion dollars through twenty twenty five so while the ultimate outcome is unpredictable the intention remains clear for the trump administration and the industry to put the u.s. as the top and that export are of natural gas and oil and move not possible without infrastructure to support the pipelines sayyid have injure washington d.c. .

and we can't leave bridges out if we talk about infrastructure and we won't here's our to correspondent ashley banks with more. fifty four thousand bridges similar to the one behind me that are structurally deficient here in the u.s. that's according to report released by the american road and transportation builders association their report states americans cross these deficient bridges one hundred seventy four million times a day potentially placing their lives at risk according to the report deficient bridges are defined as safe to drive but show signs of age and decay and are in need of regular and suspection last year the american society of civil engineers gave us and from structure ideally plus a greet the group estimates the u.s.

government will need to spend two trillion dollars over the next ten years an order to keep american and from structure from falling apart the group says over the last ten years there has been a two a trillion dollar gap and which roads and bridges and mass transit transit systems were neglect it turns one point five trillion dollars plan would include a congress three directing two hundred billion dollars of federal funds to amtrak and transit programs over the next ten years while calling for millions of dollars to come from cities states and the private sector the downside is that public private partnerships usually work and urban areas but require projects that generate money like toll roads and airports now only thirty five states allow that democratic congressman and ranking member on the house transportation committee peter de fazio believes trumps and front structure plan will fall apart if there is . in any substantial federal funding adding quote cutting other already underfunded

transportation programs to fund a new program is not going to happen experts believe the likelihood of congress spoke acing on infrastructure this year is slam to none and washington actually banks art. time for a brief post but hang here because when we return we'll look at the all important electrical grid and as we go to break here's a quiz question for you how many cars trucks buses motorcycles and other vehicles are there in the united states is it one hundred sixty eight million two hundred eighteen two hundred sixty eight million or three hundred eighteen the answer straight ahead when we return. the democratic party's in big trouble the party has not come to terms with the outcome of the two thousand and sixteen election they have a leadership out of touch with its base millennialist barfly so is their slogan no

no party like men. that i would have that how can i better manage and not out of the budget that i'm not out of the mouth of the money that they let examine. this was a good time to. try to move there i'm. not that i want to get my little money not why not act and then again why exxon i handle all the people we believe will be here. but i can say what the bible said johnny what are the other moment i thought of mother having a little because there is a lot of them on the way to my building let's put out the pink i don't want to put

out a lot from which party when i don't know the mother love it. corruption is everywhere in our house and so i think we still have high road open employment and we still have a lot of bitterness you know especially in the the land so i would say that you know our success stories have success story once again because they have achieved the political game the political agenda but we didn't do that we didn't. succeed in achieving this economy goes. welcome back to our quiz question how many cars trucks buses motorcycles and other vehicles are there in the united states is it one hundred sixty eight million to

eight hundred two hundred sixty eight million or three hundred eight million and the answer is c. two hundred sixty eight million. in the united states. another kick a part of our infrastructure system is our electrical grid for more on this we turn to our to correspondent the poshest week. increase in we're noble energy like wind and solar are soaring it only accounts for roughly sixteen percent of the u.s. is electricity so the question remains on what's the best method to modernize our grid the electric car rebates. and gas tax. are all examples of the government stepping in hoping to either promote a certain type of energy or discourage it and now as more households are utilizing

their energy surprisingly enough it's still not even close to being the majority just to be clear solar is not that still more expensive and robert murphy with the institute for energy research says that according to the federal government's predictions even by the year two thousand and fifty seventy eight percent of the u.s. is electricity will likely still be made up of fossil fuels wind suffers from intermittency issues so there are certain areas where niches a wind source can be very effective but in general you know there's only certain areas where the wind blows more than one point seven million solar energy systems are installed nationwide with a capacity of over forty gigawatts and solar energy industries association estimates that one megawatt of electricity can power one hundred sixty four homes so forty gigawatts is reportedly enough to power more than six and a half million u.s. households but whether we're noble or more traditional sources of energy like coal murphy believes the federal government shouldn't be in the business of picking winners and losers in the energy sector i've been consistent on that i don't think

that the obama administration should have been favoring wind and solar and i also don't think the trumpet ministration should be trying to implicitly subsidize new. dealer and coal fired plants either i think that the government's role should have a neutral playing field and let consumers and producers decide but one place where people desperately do need help is in puerto rico unfortunately while they have made significant progress rebuilding capabilities there are still communities in puerto rico's without power congressman randy weber of texas revisited the natural disasters of twenty seventeen in an energy some committee hearing this month into xyzzy much work still needs to be done hurricane harvey in texas devastated much of the state however the points out the use of smart meters actually help pinpoint which areas were without power. but it's a much different story for puerto rico even nine months after hurricane maria hit the island for months more than half of the island remain without power especially

during those in medical care a category four storm caused an estimated one hundred billion dollars in damages and now there are at least eight hundred homes with temporary roofs still needing replacement. as is impotent what you call impotence because i don't have the power the power to say look please how much are those one panels here take it. with an unemployment rate of nine point six percent the lowest in almost thirty years there are signs of economic recovery but the island still has a long way to go the grid is evolving rapidly and threats are changing the country's top energy researchers are agreed that energy alone can't move forward without also taking national security into consideration u.s. power systems are potentially vulnerable to large scale impacts from complex threats including disturbances and automatic pulses from mile to to nuclear detonation while national security remains on the forefront of energy technology

industry leaders say that finding the most efficient battery storage on able the us to utilize renewable energy at a better capacity at the coachella valley just waits r.t. . over half of all public schools in the u.s. are barely making the grade a d. plus is all they get according to the american society of civil engineers infrastructure report card the document shows fifty three percent of all schools need improvements to reach good condition this includes investments to make repairs renovations and modernization what's especially concerning here is that half of us schools are at least fifty years old and with that comes a number of problems such as poor air quality lead pipes for drinking water and heating and cooling systems failures all these factors can affect the health of

people who use the facilities more than twenty years ago the u.s. government accountability office put out a report that showed that as many as twenty eight million students attended schools with significant structural problems including fifteen thousand schools with unsafe indoor air quality more recently news headlines have featured some massive issues at schools for example philadelphia schools with lead paint flaking from the walls schools in south west virginia that are falling apart and baltimore schools which had to be closed for weeks during the cold months due to failing heating systems with the situation across the country dire at best many were shocked when the president left school's out of the state of the union address earlier this year. and i am calling on congress to produce a bill that generates at least one point five trillion dollars for the new and structure investment that our country so desperately needs the exemption of schools had nothing to do with forgetfulness but instead seems to be quite deliberate since

congress has historically shot down the idea of giving federal money to public schools usually pushed by the republicans the logic has been that investing in public schools is the responsibility. of state and local governments and recently u.s. secretary of education betsy de vos suggested a european education for americans by merging the department of education and department of labor to reduce the federal footprint in education and make the federal government more responsive to the full range of needs faced by american students and workers right now nearly fifty million kids from kindergarten to grade twelve go to public school each and every school day in america in addition another six million adults are also using the facilities for learning that's almost one hundred thousand schools across the country filled with people young and old looking for an education when you take infrastructure spending into consideration it looks like the people powered future is being neglected schools currently spend about fifty billion annually on maintenance and operations and another forty nine

billion on new school construction and capital development according to a two thousand and sixteen report by the twenty first century school fund the center for green schools and national council on school facilities it would cost roughly one hundred forty five billion annually to maintain and modernize school buildings and this deficit is bound to grow because the number of students is growing between one nine hundred ninety four and two thousand and thirteen the student population grew by nearly five million requiring an additional thirteen thousand k. to twelve schools by two thousand and twenty six in rome and is projected at fifty one point four million students that's about one point five million more than right now with the problem obviously getting bigger and the many recent stories of school woes some are hoping that the president will be persuaded to make an investment in education infrastructure sooner than later reporting for r.t. i'm alex mileage.

what we already took a look at road to the previous episode we get back on the road the other way argument which. you see them all over the roads on highways freeways and squeezing through tight streets with precision often you're probably annoyed when stuck behind one but the reality is trucking is the lifeblood of the us economy around eighty percent of all freight tonnage moved around the us is delivered on trucks around ten and a half billion tons of freight gets trucked all across the country all other modes of transport combined trucking moves ever.