ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Expressing concern over the impact that pending cap-and-trade legislation could have on the economy and the price of fuel, an American Trucking Associations industry official urged Congress to take a cautious approach to climate change initiatives.

Testifying before the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Con-Way Inc. Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs Randy Mullett stated that federal climate change policy must avoid encouraging a patchwork of local, state, and regional climate change laws that could hinder the ability of the trucking industry to function in interstate commerce.

Mullet said the industry supports federal preemption of local, state and regional climate change laws.

"The trucking industry is concerned over what cap-and-trade legislation will do to the price of fuel we consume," Mullett said. "Our industry can not absorb rapid increases in fuel costs. The trucking industry is extremely sensitive to how climate change legislation may further escalate fuel prices. ATA is urging Congress to carefully evaluate fuel price impacts that result from climate change legislation."

Climate change initiatives being discussed in the
US are “unworkable and impracticable” for truckers.

Currently, governmental agencies are enacting localized climate change initiatives, which Mullett said is "unworkable and impracticable" given the interstate and diverse nature of trucking.

He added that cap-and-trade programs, the primary mechanism being discussed to promote carbon reductions, are more effectively applied to stationary sources.

A widely diverse regulatory patchwork would impede the delivery of the nation’s goods by creating varied economic and administrative regulations that will serve as barriers to an efficient transportation system, he says.

At the same time, north of the border, the opposition Liberals in Ottawa have made a carbon tax proposal the centerpiece to their election campaign.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s criticism of the plan has been echoed by the Canadian Trucking Alliance, which says the tax singles out transport providers and will make "freight transportation in Canada more expensive, impairing Canada’s competitiveness and impeding investment in fuel efficiency."