ENGLISH FOR SENATE POSITION PAPER ON:
Transportation Policy
The lack of an integrated national transportation policy plan is
undermining the nation's attempts at reducing vehiclular generated air
pollution, increasing an unsustainable dependence upon imported oil
supplies, and mitigating growing traffic congestion. As one
of the major components of a coordinated energy independence and
environmental action plan, the lack of an integrated and coherent
long-term national transportation policy precludes any meaningful
progress toward the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and
compliance with the Kyoto Treaty emission reduction protocols (also
please read the separate Energy and Environment Issue paper).
European nations with integrated tranportation and energy conservation
plans are now reaping the social, environmental, and economic benefits
of their national foresight. Commercial trucks are banned from
using the German highway system on Sundays. Most major Western
European cities are now connected by high speed passenger rail
transport service. New rail/truck carriage tunnels now under
construction through the Alps will eliminate heavy truck traffic and
its resulting pollution of the pristine Alpine environment, not to
mention attendant reductions in diesel fuel consumption.
The projected rapid growth increases now being forecast for heavy truck
transport in the United States will seriously hamper future progress
toward energy conservation and air pollution abatement. Heavy
truck operations are the major cause of rapid highway deterioration
with the costs of periodic highway reconstruction unfairly being passed
on to individual non-commercial highway users driving cars, SUV's and
light trucks. It has been estimated that passage of one heavy
truck causes as much highway wear as the passage of 7,000 cars, but the
commercial truck operators are not paying 7,000 times the fuel and road
use taxes that are assesed upon car owners. The unwise
growth in long-range truck transport in the United States should be
restricted by major increases in commercial heavy truck road user fees
with Federal tax incentives to accelerate shifting their cargoes to
high speed rail transport. However, the consolidation of the
railroads into only a few huge regional combines has reduced
competition for a choice of rail transport providers in most areas of
the country. Deregulation of the railroads combined with the
emergence of these huge rail monopolies is likely to frustrate any
national policy toward shifting long-haul cargoes from highway to rail
transport unless monopolistic price gouging and rail service
deficiencies can be constrained by new interstate commerce regulation
legislation.
The continuing abandonment of rail lines and rights of way should be
reconsidered from a combined national defense and economic security
perspective. Only one transcontinental rail line is currently
double tracked for most of its length: shifting most long haul truck
cargoes to rail transport will necessitate Federal intervention to
insure adequate rail tranport network coverage and capacity are
maintained for economic growth, energy conservation, and national
defense considerations. Similarly, Federal tax and other
incentives to implement high speed rail passenger service between major
cities in the Eastern and Central time zones and within California
should become a national priority. Air travelers on short haul
airline routes spend now twice as much or even more time getting to and
from
airports and undergoing check-in and airport security clearance as they
do in the air. The vulnerability of aviation to adverse weather
conditions and terrorist incidents will never be eliminated. Air
travel will always remain vulnerable to major disruptions from severe
weather events. There is also the currently ignored problem of
increased consumption of oil-based aviation fuels with their resulting
pollution of the upper atmosphere that sooner or later must be
considered if carbon-based emissions are to be reduced. The
transition to a totally renewable energy production, transportation,
and building heating and cooling economy after the year 2050 must
become a major national goal (please also read the Energy and
Environment issue paper).
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Designed by Imad-ad-Dean,
Inc.