Wake up to this destructive boondoggle before it's too late. Call or write your U.S. senators and representative.
Converting inter-city trucking from diesel to natural gas (NG) fuel in the U.S. would be astonishingly expensive for the return on investment. Yet, legislation before Congress proposes to begin to do just that. The bills, S. 3815: Promoting Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles Act of 2010, (H. Reid, D-NV) and HR 6564: Oil Independence for a Stronger America Act of 2010, (J. Inslee, D-WA) would subsidize a transition for over-the-road trucking from diesel to natural gas (NG) fuel. NG trucking would require costly engine conversions, an entirely new refueling infrastructure, and hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden road construction costs and wasted energy. Although these two bills died at the end of the 111th Congress in December, 2010. You can be confident that something like them will be re-introduced in the 112th Congress.
There are good measures working towards breaking the national oil addiction in Jay Inslee's House bill. Just ask that representatives strip any legislation of proposals to subsidize truck conversion to NG.
NG conversion legislation is the wrong way to go for freight transportation policy. Such bills misallocate limited public resources and time to convert mid- and long-distance freight trucking away from CO2-emitting fossil fuels altogether. Instead, public resources should be used to develop a faster, safer, cheaper, greener, more economically productive transportation alternative, serving not just freight but passenger traffic the -- North American Steel Interstate System.
What the North American Steel Interstate Coalition found out when researching the consequences of NG truck conversion is shocking. For example, one researcher concludes that conversion of diesel trucks to natural gas will actually increase the net GHG emission-effect. Another says that for the amount of gas wasted in compressing NG and the energy losses in the conversion, we could electrically power the Steel Interstate rail system.
- Massive road construction would be required to accommodate more trucks.
- Natural gas "fracking" poisons groundwater.
- Much natural gas would be wasted in compression and leakage, which may mean that the change from diesel would actually generate worse climate change effects.
- Natural gas should be saved for "higher" uses than a transportation fuel (heating homes, industrial processes, fertilizer, etc.)
- Public cost concerns alone should be sufficient to kill this bill.
- Public money would be far better used to get to work on the national Steel Interstate System.
- An electrified Steel Interstate would ultimately move inter-city freight transportation off of fossil fuels altogether.
- The Steel Interstate would also provide passenger service.
Why NOT Convert Trucks to Natural Gas? is the most comprehensive location on the web for information about natural gas trucking and the implications of NG truck conversion subsidies. Go there to read all the information. Here are the subsections:
- S.3815-Too Costly ~ Wrong Road!
- Steel Interstate rail is the better approach
- Hidden External Costs
- Massive road construction is not inevitable
- Hidden Internal Costs
- Energy conversion losses are unacceptable
- A Transition Costly to the Public
- But beneficial for an energy billionaire
- Market Penetration Barriers
- That old chicken or the egg thing
- Environmentally Safe?
- A new kind of gas drilling threatens water
- Sustainable Transportation Fuel?
- Marketable natural gas reserves may collapse
- Safety? We Can Do Much Better!
- Moving freight on trains is safest
- Productivity & Labor Concerns
- The right choice enhances competitiveness
