P.M. Executive Briefing - June 13
This Afternoon's Headlines:
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Rep. Rahall Urges Highway Designers to Think Intermodal
Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), who attended the West Virginia 21 Intermodal Transportation and Economic Development Summit Monday,aid highway planners need to consider the economic-development potential of the highways they plan. They should create economic corridors connected to intermodal ports, not just economic corridors, he said.
Peace Bridge Authority, N.Y. Residents Oppose Firm's Bid for Cross-Border Span
The Peace Bridge Authority, a public benefit corporation in charge of the span that connects Fort Erie, Ontario, with Buffalo, N.Y., is fighting efforts by the private Detroit International Bridge Co., which is owned by a millionaire trucking-company owner, to buy the Peace Bridge. The effort by the Detroit group, which owns the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, is also being fought by residents near the Peace Bridge, who are afraid of higher tolls – the Ambassador Bridge's tolls were raised 300% last year by the Canadian Transit Co.The Peace Bridge is the center of local debate over how to reduce traffic problems on the bridge, which is an important U.S.-Canada trade link. The Detroit group's president said the Peace Bridge Authority "has outlived its purpose" due to its inability to get a twin span approved for the Peace Bridge. In addition, a spokesman for Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-N.Y.) said officials in New York are open to a buyout by the Detroit group; the spokesman also called the Peace Bridge Authority "inadequate" and said its plans to expand the Peace Bridge are not sufficient.
But the Peace Bridge Authority's co-general manager, Ed Rowe, believes that the Detroit group wants the debate to last longer, which he says would help out the Ambassador Bridge; he says the debate should be resolved in the Niagara area, and not by a company from outside that region. The Peace Bridge Authority would cease to exist if the bridge is sold.
The owner of the Detroit company, Manuel Maroun, is also the owner of trucking company CenTra, which operates in 98% of major manufacturing markets in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. CenTra operates as Central Transport International in New England. Detroit Free Press (06/13/00); JnBaptiste, Merlin
Sens. Voinovich, Breaux Draft Legislation to Force EPA to Consider Costs of Regulations
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) says he will make his own effort to force the Environmental Protection Agency to consider the cost of its regulations, if the Supreme Court is not willing to do so when it reviews the American Trucking Associations' lawsuit against the agency. To that end, Voinovich and Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) have co-written the Air Quality Standards Improvement Act of 2000, which has also received the backing of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Bob Smith (R-N.H.).The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says there should only be spending on "real risks" to the environment, as environmental regulatory compliance already costs $150 billion a year. EPA Administrator Carol Browner says the premise of U.S. environmental law emphasizes the health of the public, while setting a time frame for finding cost-effective means of compliance, and senior attorney Vickie Patton of Environmental Defense says a change in policy would boost "the economic concerns of major polluters" while deemphasizing "public health concerns."
But Voinovich believes there is a challenge to protect the public health and environment "with the limited financial resources we have available and with the scientific evidence to back up our actions." Denver Rocky Mountain News Online (06/09/00); Straub, Bill
Southern California Protest Set to Promote 'Clean' Fuel
The South Coast Clean Air Partnership was planning to stage a Monday morning demonstration against regulations proposed by southern California's South Coast Air Quality Management District that would, if passed, require public agencies to buy vehicles that use alternative or clean-burning fuels rather than diesel.Durand Rall, general manager of the Omnitrans bus service, said customers would have to foot the bill for pricier alternative-fuel vehicles, while the partnership's proposal to use clean diesel would clean up the air faster.
The demonstration was scheduled to run a school bus, a tanker truck, and a medium-duty truck with low-emission diesel technology in a parking lot at Los Angeles' Staples Center and let reporters put handkerchiefs next to the exhaust pipes to test their soot emissions.
AQMD spokesman Bill Kelly said the handkerchief test does not reflect the emissions that would be produced while the vehicles are in operation or show that the filters remove chemicals that some researchers say are related to cancer and birth defects.
Kelly also says the AQMD does not believe the partnership's proposal would clean up the air as much as the AQMD's plan would. Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) (06/12/00) P. B1; Thrower, Laurie Koch
New Technology Allows for Wireless On-Board Computer Downloads
Information from onboard computers in engines and vehicles can now be retrieved without wires thanks to a new system from South Carolina-based Vehicle Enhancement Systems. The system, called IRIS on Detroit Diesel Series 50 and 60 engines and Vesplex-IR on Mack trucks, enables the onboard computers to communicate via infrared beams with the system's base unit, which may be installed at a gate, shop entrance, or fuel island.Base units at a terminal gate can be used to monitor vehicle movement and download data, while service bays could get the vehicle history and fault codes straight from the computer; the base unit can also update the software in the onboard computers.
In the future, the systems could be used to transmit vehicle data at weigh stations with electronic clearance systems, and could also enable "universal" base stations at truck stops to receive the onboard computer's data and send it back to the fleet via a modem. Commercial Carrier Journal (05/00) Vol. 157, No. 5; P. 6; Richards, Paul
Compiled by Transport Topics staff and INFORMATION, INC. © 2000
