FREDERICKSBURG, VA - The American Trucking Associations (ATA) recently told a congressional committee that a cap-and-trade program would impose "significant costs" on the trucking industry, reported Modern Tire Dealer.

In his statement on behalf of ATA, Tommy Hodges, the organization's first vice chairman, said that the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454) threatens "to significantly increase fuel costs and jeopardizes the economic viability of trucking companies.

"Fleets are extremely sensitive to rapidly shifting operating costs given thin operating margins. These margins continue to be chipped away, given the numerous and unprecedented costs being imposed upon the industry to reduce emissions from trucks."

Hodges explained that provisions in H.R. 2454's cap-and-trade program grant oil refiners 2 percent of the carbon allowances between 2014 and 2016 to help mitigate refinery greenhouse gas emissions.

"This amount is inadequate and will result in significant price increases for refined products," he said. "The 2-percent allotment to refineries over a two-year period covers the refineries' facility emissions, but totally ignores carbon emissions from the combustion of petroleum products, leaving downstream users, such as trucking companies, exposed to dramatic and sudden fuel price spikes."

The ATA believes that mobile sources, such as commercial trucks, should be addressed differently than traditional stationary sources, according to MTD.