Coalition lines up against Kerry-Lieberman climate bill
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A broad coalition of transportation groups is gearing up to fight the climate change legislation proposed by U.S. Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, saying it would wreck efforts to improve the nation's highways, bridges and transit systems.
Twenty-eight groups representing state government transportation officials, trucking interests, mass transit operators, transit employees, motorists, construction workers and contractors said the legislation would impose higher fuel costs but divert most of the money away from transportation improvements.
The American Power Act "undermines investment in one of the most effective tools consumers use to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and combat climate change -- public transportation," said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association and former head of Allegheny County's Port Authority.
"Traffic congestion needlessly wastes 2.8 billion gallons [of gasoline] per year," said Stephen E. Sandherr, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America. The Kerry-Lieberman measure "actually makes the problem worse," he said.
The bill would require oil refiners to purchase carbon emissions allowances at prices that would increase with time, as an incentive to drive down oil consumption and promote use of cleaner energy.
The transportation groups estimated that in 2013, the first year of the legislation's effect, it would generate $19.5 billion in fees from fuel consumers. "Instead of returning revenue from these fees to improving the transportation system, the bill diverts at least 77 percent of the funds away from transportation infrastructure investment," they said in a letter to Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lieberman.
A reduction in gasoline use also would cut the money available for road and transit improvements.
In an e-mail to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr. Kerry's spokeswoman, Whitney Smith, disputed the transportation lobby's claims.
"Let's get the facts straight. This bill invests more than $6 billion annually in transportation infrastructure, which is more than any other comprehensive energy and climate bill and more than twice what's claimed in [their] letter," she said.
First Published May 20, 2010 12:00 am
