The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it will implement President Bush's executive order regarding streamlining environmental reviews to accelerate decisions on transportation projects. The executive order calls for a Cabinet-level task force reporting to the president through the chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality to ensure that environmentally sound projects are not held up unnecessarily by inefficient review procedures. "This initiative is intended to make our transportation investments more efficient, helping to ease congestion and reduce pollution," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in letters to governors, Congressional committee leaders and stakeholders. The review task force will work to streamline environmental reviews of specific, high-impact transportation construction projects, such as airport, highway, transit and intermodal. Mineta said the DOT will develop a list of specific streamlining projects and asked for project nominations from governors as well as transportation leaders.