Senate Panel Approves Measure Boosting Truck Weights in Maine

This story appears in the Aug. 10 print edition of Transport Topics.

Several measures affecting trucking advanced in Congress recently as a key Senate committee ap-proved a bill to allow trucks weighing more than the federal limit on Interstate 95 in Maine, and a bill providing tax incentives for idle-reducing units was introduced in the House of Representatives.

Also during the flurry of activity before Congress took its August recess, a House panel approved a bill to spur research on advanced vehicle technology.

On July 30, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Department of Transportation’s budget for the 2010 fiscal year, including a provision that allows Maine to conduct a one-year pilot project in which the state would be exempt from the 80,000-pound weight limit on interstate highways, allowing for 100,000-pound rigs.

The increase, championed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), would keep “heavy trucks on the interstates, which are designed to carry more weight than the rural roads” and would provide an assessment of how the higher weights affect safety, commerce and highway wear.

The bill now goes to the full Senate, where, assuming it passes, it will be reconciled with the House version, which does not include the Maine pilot.

Currently, states and Canadian provinces adjoining Maine allow heavier trucks — primarily for logging — to travel on their interstates. However, heavier trucks in Maine must travel on smaller state highways where they are allowed by state law.

Tim Lynch, senior vice president of American Trucking Associations, hailed the move and said more states should be allowed to raise their weight limits if they choose to.

“The situation in Maine, where logging trucks are operating on two-lane roads as opposed to operating on the interstate, is a classic example of the negative effects of the 1991 freeze,” Lynch told Transport Topics. “I don’t think Maine is unique by any stretch; there are other states that have similar challenges.”

In 1991, Congress limited weights to 80,000 pounds on the interstate highway system, unless heavier trucks already were allowed.

Maine Gov. John Baldacci (D) said, “Allowing loads to move from 80,000 pounds to 100,000 pounds on Maine’s interstate will reduce the number of trucks on the road, thereby increasing safety while reducing net fuel consumption.”

ATA has supported efforts to allow states to boost weight limits to 97,000 pounds on interstate highways, with a sixth axle to better distribute the weight.

Earlier this year, Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) introduced a bill that would allow states to increase their weight limits, while Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), has spearheaded ex-panding the current federal weight limit beyond the interstate highway system to other federally funded roads.

Both bills are still pending.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan pair of congressmen introduced a tax-credit bill July 30 that would encourage truckers to use anti-idling technology.

“We have truckers and environmentalists on the same page,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), chief sponsor of the Idle Reduction Tax Act of 2009. “We can cut costs and the output of global warming pollution by making it affordable for truckers to buy the equipment needed to reduce fuel wasted when idling.”

The bill, cosponsored by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), would provide a 50% tax credit up to $3,000 for each device purchased to reduce idling and installed on a commercial vehicle.

Granger said reducing idling by trucks was “a common-sense way to not only cut down on the amount of fuel trucks use, but to reduce the amount of truck pollution.”

ATA President Bill Graves said the cost of technology to reduce idling “has been a major barrier to trucking companies.”

Blumenauer noted that units to limit idling can cost up to $8,500 each.

“This legislation will allow us to move forward with industrywide efforts to reduce air pollution and fuel consumption related to idling,” Graves said.

Granger has introduced similar legislation in the past, but it has failed to get through Congress. However, industry lobbyists said this year may be different.

Mike Joyce, a lobbyist for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said that with Congress’ attention focused on the economy and the environment, “we’ve got an opportunity to get this bill across the

finish line.”

Another truck-related measure saw action just before the August recess when the House Science Committee on July 29 approved legislation aimed at developing more fuel-efficient vehicles — including both cars and heavy trucks.

The bill, championed by Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), would authorize $550 million in 2010 — increasing to $590 million by 2014 — for the Energy Department to carry out advanced vehicle technology research.

Peters’ bill would create a research program for advanced technology for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, including the appointment of a full-time director to oversee federal research.

“Investing in research and development of advanced vehicle technologies will help our auto companies turn the corner and emerge from the global economic crisis,” Peters said in a statement.

ATA spokesman Clayton Boyce said the federation supports legislation “to advance research programs that could some day translate to more fuel-efficient trucks.”