MTAC testifies before Environment Committee

This week, MTAC President Joe Sculley also testified in front of the legislature’s joint committee on the Environment, regarding a carbon price being established on fossil fuels sold in Connecticut. Mr. Sculley informed the committee that while everyone appreciates efforts to protect the environment, major environmental policy is best left to the federal government, to…

gas-tax

This week, MTAC President Joe Sculley also testified in front of the legislature’s joint committee on the Environment, regarding a carbon price being established on fossil fuels sold in Connecticut. Mr. Sculley informed the committee that while everyone appreciates efforts to protect the environment, major environmental policy is best left to the federal government, to ensure a level playing field for smaller states like Connecticut.

Mr. Sculley argued that if this bill were to pass, it would likely result in fuel purchases, businesses, and jobs being driven out of the state, due to Connecticut’s small geographic size. Motor carriers who store bulk fuel in a tank on their property could purchase fuel in nearby states to avoid a “first point of sale” tax, and simply deliver the fuel to the state, as well as relocating operations out of state, if fuel distributors have operations in other states.

From a trucking perspective, a state level bill on fuel taxes is unnecessary due to progress made at the federal level, as well as improving technology and fewer emissions in the freight industry. With improvements in fuel efficient trucks and other emission control technologies, soot, NOx, and sulfur emissions have continuously been decreasing, which means the trucking industry has already been doing its part, and a point of sale tax on fuel in the state would only result in higher prices for businesses and residents in the state.

Read Mr. Sculley’s full testimony before the Environment Committee below.

Testimony – Raised Bill 5363 – An act establishing a carbon price for fossil fuels sold in Connecticut

 

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