Pennsylvania Trucking Execs Back Shuster

This story appears in the Nov. 7 print edition of Transport Topics.

The message from Pennsylvania trucking leaders to voters in the 9th Congressional District is simple: It sometimes helps the industry when the top transportation policymaker in the U.S. House of Representatives also is your congressman.

Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure panel seeking an ninth term as the 9th District’s representative, is uniquely positioned to address those concerns, the group of influential carriers from Shuster’s home state told Transport Topics in interviews about a week before the elections.

Industry stakeholders clamoring for dollars for freight projects and relief from federal regulations limiting work schedules for truckers are pushing for more federal backing, not less. In their eyes, Shuster would be better positioned to deliver on both matters while his chief opponent in the Nov. 8 election, tea party-backed Art Halvorson, would not.

“Having someone like Mr. Shuster in this position is best for everybody concerned because he’ll make common-sense approaches to industry situations that aren’t knee-jerk reactions,” said Stephanie Fleetman, president of Mustang Expediting Inc., which is based in the Philadelphia suburb of Aston.

“Our congressmen are supposed to be public servants, and they’re supposed to be helping. They’re elected by the people, for the people. And that’s where they need to rule from and decide from,” Fleetman added, noting Shuster’s rapport with local truckers.

Gladys Knox, president of Wright-Knox Motor Lines in Armagh, Pennsylvania, near Altoona, said Shuster is a familiar face who has sought to address the regula- tory concerns she has in common with other firms. Shuster, she argued, would take on regulators at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and revamp hours-of-service rules for truckers that she said force them to work during peak driving periods. If the number of drivers working during the day increases, there would be more congestion and less available parking.

“I found that he listens to our problems, suggested solutions and uses a common-sense, cost-effective approach to implementing the final solution. I believe it is important that we receive equal value for the tax-dollar investment in a solution, and that most often is not the resulting case from Washington, D.C.,” Knox said.

“We have an extreme number of unsound bridges and dilapidated country roads as well as interstate highways in great need of repair, as compared to many other states. Our states and cities are very old and antiquated, as are many Eastern states; we all face the same issues.”

The American Society of Civil Engineers noted Pennsylvania has more than 22,660 bridges, or 23%, categorized as structurally deficient, which is among the highest nationwide.

Knox and Fleetman, senior leaders in the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, want Shuster to chip away at federal regulations and boost dollars for freight infrastructure. Pennsylvania truckers complain about the lack of available parking in the state and region. Recent surveys of truck drivers found that truck parking is a major concern for the industry.

In rural Pennsylvania, trucking executives also emphasized that new federal environmental regulations pertaining to coal mining and natural-gas production led to long-term economic downturns statewide. “Manufacturing is almost a bygone activity in our area. Most local work is now low-paying service type jobs or of health care nature,” Knox said.

PMTA President Kevin Stewart stressed his members need lawmakers in Congress, such as Shuster, to push back on FMCSA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies with a say over trucking matters.

Stewart said Shuster already proved he could look out for the industry. He helped advance reforms to FMCSA in a five-year highway bill passed in December. Stewart also applauds Shuster for pressing his colleagues to establish a long-term funding fix for infrastructure and freight projects.

Halvorson has campaigned against boosting the federal role in highway funding, and he chose not to discuss trucking regulation with TT.

“The fear would be each state being able to establish their own rule sets,” Stewart said, commenting on Halvorson’s state-centric transportation funding platform, known in the industry as devolution. “Certainly with interstate commerce, it is paramount to have a standard rule set for trucking when dealing with interstate commerce.”

Shuster has convened roundtable discussions looking at the freight industry’s concerns since taking over the transportation committee in 2013. Those discussions led to new grants in the FAST Act five-year highway bill the committee advanced and President Obama signed in December. Under Shuster’s watch, the transportation committee also has passed water infrastructure reform legislation and railroad oversight reform bills.

Nonpartisan election observers, such as the Cook Political Report, have listed Pennsylvania’s 9th District leaning for the incumbent party. But the advantage for Shuster is not as evident because Halvorson, while running as a Democrat, is a Republican.

And the fundraising advantage goes to Shuster, who has amassed nearly $4 million for his re- election in part from political action committees of transportation organizations. Halvorson, at nearly $300,000 raised, has relied on individual donors.