DOT’s LaHood Praises Trucking
This story appears in the June 7 print edition of Transport Topics.
Trucking will continue to be “an essential component” of the nation’s freight system, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves, responding to Graves’ recent letter complaining of “misleading” statements about trucking by LaHood and others in DOT.
LaHood’s June 2 letter praised trucking’s “remarkable” advances in safety and the environment and said that even as DOT pushes for more intermodal freight transport, trucking will continue to play a key role in the nation’s freight system.
LaHood was responding to Graves’ April 30 letter that criticized a number of perceived slights against trucking in DOT’s rhetoric on livability and other transportation policies (click here for previous story).
LaHood wrote that by improving all modes of transportation, including trucking, the country could “advance intermodal solutions that achieve maximum efficiency.”
“Some optimal solutions may be limited to a single freight mode, while others will require integration of two or more modes,” LaHood stated. “The unique advantages of truck transportation will be instrumental in helping the department reach these solutions.”
In a June 3 statement, Graves said he was “pleased that the Secretary has responded in a way that makes it clear that, as his letter says, ‘without a strong and efficient truck transportation system, the nation’s standard of living would suffer.’ ”
Graves thanked the secretary for “acknowledging the trucking industry’s success in improving energy efficiency, reducing emissions, lowering accident and fatality rates, and for supporting efforts by President Obama to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Earlier, Graves had pointed out that trucks are projected to haul 71% of the nation’s freight in 2020, while only 1.8% of goods will move intermodally.
“Truck transportation carries a major share of freight in the nation and will continue to play an essential role in ensuring the economic health of the country and maintaining the United States’ position as a leader in international trade,” LaHood wrote.
Praising the trucking industry’s commitment to safety and improving its environmental record, LaHood called the industry’s achievements “remarkable.”
“I fully expect that the trucking industry will continue to make these kinds of improvements, while advancing our economy and making our communities safer and more livable,” he wrote.
In his letter to LaHood earlier this spring, Graves said the rhetoric used by the secretary and other Obama administration officials when talking about its livability programs and desire to shift freight to other modes of transportation such as railroads or waterways was “misleading to the public” and “factually incorrect,” warning that it could “breed irresponsible policy.”
Graves’ letter emphasized comments made by LaHood in which the secretary said that much of the administration’s federal stimulus funds went to freight rail projects to “take gas-guzzling trucks off the road.” (click here for previous story)
In a later interview with Transport Topics, Graves said he expected DOT to be an advocate for all modes of transportation, but that LaHood’s “rhetoric seems to suggest there are favorites.”
LaHood replied that he was “a strong advocate for improving all of our nation’s freight transportation systems so that we can take advantage of the economic, safety, energy and environmental advantages inherent in each mode.”
