Media Clipping — Saturday, August 9, 2001, The Halifax Herald

Truckers miffed by group's pro-rail report

By Patricia Brooks

A new report by a Tantallon research firm recommending an increase in railway freight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has shocked the head of the region's largest trucking association.

GPI Atlantic's greenhouse gas report released Wednesday suggests shifting 10 per cent of freight trucked along the Halifax-Amherst corridor to rail to help reduce emissions.

That would give 77 per cent of freight transport to trains and 23 per cent to trucking companies.

This "would result in an annual decrease in carbon dioxide of 13,696 tonnes at a net average annual social benefit of $10 million," the 230-page report states.

"This is a very, very, very biased report," Ralph Boyd, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, said Wednesday afternoon.

"I find it very disturbing that they would . . . cast such a dark cloud over the activities of the trucking industry as opposed to the railway."

The trucking association was not asked for input, nor was it aware that any study was in the works, Mr. Boyd said.

"I would have been only too glad to provide information on how we deal with the environmental issues in the hopes of encouraging our government . . . and making a better contribution to a healthier environment," he said.

GPI Atlantic, which developed the "genuine progress index" to measure well-being and not just a successful economy, hopes to suggest ways to cut the province's greenhouse gas emissions by 32 per cent by 2010.

Report co-author Ronald Colman said that although every Nova Scotian is responsible for the emission of over 20 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year - mainly through driving, heating homes and using electricity - "this is not a doom and gloom report."

The report, which says "data limitations were substantial," puts a dollar figure to societal costs such as accidents, air pollution, climate change, fossil fuel depletion, policing, highway maintenance and highway capital costs.

Mr. Colman said shifting 10 per cent of freight transport to trains along the Halifax-Amherst corridor would save Nova Scotians about $10 million, even factoring in the $1 million the province would lose in tax revenue.

Mr. Colman called it a sacrifice for future generations.

But Mr. Boyd said some of the numbers in the report are outdated and others are not comparable. Property taxes paid by CN, the main railway user, are included, but taxes paid by trucking companies for offices are not, he said. There are also no government costs included for maintaining or policing the railway.

In relation to recent numbers on fuel efficiency, Mr. Colman was not aware of a May report from Transport Canada stating that CN trains in Eastern Canada burn dirtier fuel, with a sulphur content of 1,500 to 2,500 parts per million, than in Western Canada, where the fuel has 300 to 500 sulphur parts per million.

Trucks burn fuel with 100 parts per million, Mr. Boyd said, and the fuel industry is working on an ultra-low-sulphur fuel with only five parts per million. One refinery in Atlantic Canada may have it by 2005, he said.

"I think we have to be even-handed," Mr. Colman said, adding that the report was not intended to target one industry. "We have to find the efficiency within the rail industry. . . . That is equally important."

The report also states that the freight change would hit truckers especially hard, causing a 30 per cent "remuneration decrease."

"The upheaval caused by a decrease in trucking employment would have to be addressed," the report says. "This situation may require new ways of thinking about the trucking industry in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada so that new means of employment could be found within the trucking industry through intermodal and regional centres."

The report also suggests that CN may need a government boost.

"Considering the poor performance of the CN line in Nova Scotia as compared to lines in Canada and the U.S., it may be necessary for the provincial government to provide a business environment that encourages rail freight," the report states. "Otherwise, the province may lose the line altogether."

Mr. Boyd wondered if the purpose of the study, which was funded by Environment Canada and the provincial departments of Environment, Transportation and Natural Resources, was "to truly protect the environment or is it to save CN and the rail line?"

In addition to the freight recommendation, GPI Atlantic also suggests individual transport changes, including shifts from cars to public transit through road user charges; reduced transit fares; improved transit services; carbon taxes on fuels; city-wide parking charges; and fuel efficiency labelling of cars.

"If Nova Scotia takes the lead the way we did with solid waste, that creates tremendous business opportunities," Mr. Colman said. "People are coming from all over the world to study what we did with our solid waste system. We have 179 countries that are committed to doing this.

"If we are the first . . . we could become known as a world leader in renewable energy resources."

Copyright © 2001, The Halifax Herald