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Senate climate bill would raise trucking costs

It’s dubbed the American Power Act, but for truckers it likely means a higher cost of doing business.

Sens. John Kerry, D-MA, and Joe Lieberman, I-CT, unveiled their anticipated climate bill on Wednesday, May 12, saying it will create jobs, reduce dependence on foreign oil, cut emissions, and address carbon pollution.

But to get there, the proposal would likely lead to higher fuel prices, stricter emissions standards and a push to convert commercial trucks to cleaner burning fuels – all of which could add costs that would be passed on to truckers.

Leadership of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association says the Kerry-Lieberman bill will have a tough time gaining traction if left as is.

“First things first, this specific bill that’s fairly broad on a cap-and-trade proposal and energy related initiatives has a slim-to-nil chance of being passed the way that it is during this election year,” said OOIDA Director of Legislative Affairs Mike Joyce.

“Number two, the way I read this proposal so far, and it’s 1,000 pages long, is it’s no different than what I read in previous climate-change bills in that it ultimately will impose a tax on those that use fossil fuels, mainly truckers.”

Joyce said the authors of the bill are disguising fuel taxes as something else.

“They said that the Congressional Budget Office would score this as not being a fuel tax, but about putting a price on carbon,” Joyce said. “Lieberman said this bill puts a price on carbon, and that means a fuel-tax is coming.”

“Although they’re disguising that tax and selling a proposal that would benefit transportation projects, mainly highways and bridges, the reality is that a limited amount of revenue generated would actually go to maintaining and repairing highways and bridges.”

The bill promises $6 billion annually for the Highway Trust Fund, but it’s couched as “almost $2 billion for state and local projects that reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and almost $2 billion for TIGER grants,” according to a bill summary provided to media.

The U.S. Department of Transportation uses the TIGER (Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery) grants program to distribute discretionary money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for projects that preserve or create infrastructure jobs in a metropolitan region.

“The lion’s share of any revenue that would come in would probably be diverted to mass transit or livable community initiatives with TIGER grants, not to benefit those paying a premium for fuel,” Joyce said.

The bill includes incentives to convert diesel trucks to natural gas.

“We include a generous package of financial incentives to help transition today’s heavy trucks into next-generation heavy-duty fleets powered by natural gas,” according to the bill summary.

The U.S. House has previously passed a climate bill, known as the Waxman-Markey bill, which touts similar goals as the Senate version but with some differences. If the Senate passes the Kerry-Lieberman bill, the House and Senate will have to agree on final language before it can become law.

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