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ATA, OOIDA disagree on environmental initiatives

The American Trucking Associations recently asked Congress to support the trucking industry’s environmental initiatives, which it claims will reduce fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons and reduce the carbon footprint of all vehicles by nearly a billion tons over the next 10 years.
     “It is in our best business interest to reduce our energy consumption, improve our profit- ability and reduce our levels of emissions and greenhouse gases,” said Tommy Hodges, ATA Vice Chairman. Testifying on behalf of ATA before the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Hodges asked Congress to:
•    Enact a national 65 mph speed limit and govern truck speeds at 65 mph or slower to reduce fuel consumption;
•    Increase funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay program, a voluntary greenhouse gas reduction program designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing air pollution;
•    Support national fuel economy standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks leading to lower emissions through reduced fuel consumption;
•    Implement financial incentives in the way of tax credits or grants to expedite the introduction of idling reduction equipment across the nation;
•    Invest in infrastructure improvements to fix the nation’s most critical bottlenecks, easing congestion and saving 32 billion gallons of fuel and reducing carbon emissions by 314 million tons over 10 years; Fund research and development in new technologies that will improve fuel consumption and generate greater fuel efficiency;
•    Promote the use of more productive truck combinations resulting in fewer truck miles traveled.
     Not so fast, said the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), which issued a statement claiming that the “recommendations …are meant to eliminate competition, not emissions.” OOIDA focused its objections on the proposed use of longer/heavier truck and trailer combinations, as well as government mandates for speed limiters on truck engines.
     “Upping truck weights and mandating speed limiters in the name of sustainability is irresponsible,” said OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer. “Those things have nothing to do with making trucking more ‘green’ and everything to do with adding more ‘green’ to the pockets of large corporations.”
     OOIDA contends that effective environmental solutions begin with addressing inefficiencies in the supply chain such as time and fuel wasted by truckers waiting to be loaded or unloaded and the amount of empty miles truckers must drive. According to OOIDA, addressing those problems would go a long way toward reducing fuel burned as well as emissions, while saving trucking companies and consumers $5.7 billion a year.
     “We support efforts to clean up our environment, but not at the expense of highway safety or crippling competition. Those factors more than offset any theoretical productivity or environmental gains,” Spencer added. “The air isn’t made cleaner by fouling it with the smoke of powerful economic interests.”