The top transportation authorizer in the House, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), today announced his picks for subcommittee chairmen, as well as the selection of Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) as his vice chairman for the 113th Congress.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership team for the 113th Congress will be Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) for the Aviation Subcommittee; Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) for the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation panel; Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) for the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management panel; Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) for the Highways and Transit panel; Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) for the Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials panel; and Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) for the Water Resources and Environment panel.

Duncan and the subcommittee chairmen are expected to be confirmed at an organizational meeting Jan. 23.

"I look forward to working together to promote competitiveness and economic growth, reform programs, and strengthen our nation's infrastructure," Shuster said.

This year, the panel will be tasked with crafting a long-term authorizing transportation measure. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, speaking at the Transportation Research Board conference in Washington, D.C., today, said finding ways to pay for a long-term measure will be the "next big challenge" for lawmakers if they intend to guarantee first-class infrastructure and transportation systems for the country.

"The debate in Washington when it comes to infrastructure is, how do we pay for it? How do we pay for a five- or six-year bill? ... Where do we come up with the resources? That's what the debate will be about," LaHood said.

The choice to keep Gibbs at the water subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over U.S. EPA's water programs and the Army Corps of Engineers' civil works program, is sure to rankle green groups.

Gibbs, a second-term congressman and former hog farmer, has been broadly critical of the Obama administration's environmental agenda. He has opposed EPA's efforts to impose tougher water pollution limits on Florida and the Chesapeake Bay, and co-sponsored legislation to block the administration's guidance on what types of wetlands and other water resources are subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act -- a major priority for environmental groups.

"EPA just keeps raising the bar, and the home plate just keeps moving," he told E&E Daily shortly after taking his post as subcommittee chairman in 2011 (E&E Daily, May 3, 2011). "It gets to the point where it's just so unattainable that you have to wonder. People get frustrated, and they can't afford it. There has to be -- we have to find a balance."

In the last session, Gibbs also focused his subcommittee's attention on the nation's looming infrastructure crisis, holding hearings on ways to draw private dollars to water and sewer systems, as well as to maintain the country's locks, dams and inland waterways.

In other staff matters, Shuster named Mike Friedberg to lead the staff's work at the Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee. He previously worked on the House Appropriations panel.

For the Highways and Transit panel, Shuster named Jim Tymon to lead that team. Staying put will be Holly Woodruff Lyons on Aviation matters, while Dan Mathews will continue to tackle Emergency Management panel issues. In November, Shuster named Christopher Bertram to be his chief of staff on the committee.