Missouri proposes tax incentive for truckers to stop engines

~ Idling keeps the engine warm and living compartments comfortable.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- State lawmakers want to give tractor-trailer drivers and companies a sweeter deal for reducing noxious exhaust.

The large trucks that move goods across the country can idle for the equivalent of eight hours each day and 100 days a year while the truck is loaded and unloaded and when the driver rests.

All this idling keeps the engine block warm and the living compartments lighted and heated or cooled, but it also spills carbon dioxide and other air pollutants into the atmosphere without getting the products in the trailer any closer to market.

"Have you ever tried to sleep when it's 110 degrees outside and you have to try to rest for six hours?" said Larry Morgan, a co-owner of a Marshall-based trucking company.

Idling the engine "allows the driver to operate his air conditioner or his heater unit in the winter. He can keep his battery charged and keep his truck engine warm so it will start in extremely cold temperatures," Morgan said.

But the idling comes at a cost. Studies from the U.S. Department of Transportation show that 458,000 trucks, requiring heat 85 days per year and cooling 218 days per year when stopped, would use more than 838 million gallons of petroleum and produce 9.6 tons of carbon dioxide just by idling.

If the trucks used generators that connect to the tractors and allow the drivers to turn off the engines while keeping the engines warm, they would burn two-thirds less petroleum and produce 80 percent less carbon dioxide.

The potential benefits of the devices, called auxiliary power units, have Congress and state lawmakers looking at ways to get more drivers using the power units rather than their truck engines to stay comfortable.

Earlier this month, the Missouri House voted 136-17 to approve a bill that would create a tax credit to help offset the cost for the units, which range from several thousand to more than $10,000 per device. The credit would allow Missouri companies to deduct half the cost of the unit -- up to $3,500 per truck for the largest truck class. The tax credits would be capped at $15 million per year and $30 million for the entire program. The bill now awaits a hearing in a Senate committee.

Sundy Muse-Morton, the marketing and recruiting director for O&S Trucking Inc., said the company began installing power units in 2005. She said the company saves about $250 each month per truck in diesel fuel costs. Running the engine less also reduces wear and repairs.

"It is a huge expense, but it's an expense at the front, and we expect to reap the financial benefits, as far as fuel usage, and the environment, as far as cleaner air," she said.

O&S's truck engines use about 0.75 gallons of diesel fuel per hour while their power units burn less than half that (0.4 gallons per hour) in the winter and a mere 0.016 gallons in the summer.

Tom Crawford, an executive for the Missouri Motor Carriers Association, said the technology for the power generators is not new but implementation has been slowed by concerns about their weight and whether the units save as much as manufacturers say the do.

The power units vary in size, cost and power, but many of the most frequently used weigh-in at about 400 pounds -- compared to a tractor, in which an engine alone can top 3,000 pounds.

But that 400 pounds counts toward the 80,000-pound limit on trucks, reducing how much cargo the tractor-trailer can haul.

Congress, in 2005, allowed states to exempt up to 400 pounds for connected, working power units from the federal weight requirement, but many states, including Missouri, have not done so.

"The enforcement agencies are being fairly lenient -- where if you have a 400 pound auxiliary power unit and you come in at 80,300 pounds, most places are being very common sense about it," he said.

Morgan, who founded Gencom Inc. in 1961, said his trucking company has tried the mobile units, but they are expensive and the extra weight to the truck cuts down on how much each truck can haul.

Even with the decreased hauling capacity for Morgan's refrigerated trailers, plus the cost of the units, Morgan said that the state tax credit should drop the price enough to make it manageable.

"It's a large investment, and I want to be sure of where we are before we make that investment," he said. "Being a small company, we normally let the big companies do the testing and learn from their mistakes."

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Tax credit bill is HB488.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov