Friday January 30, 2009
Agriculture Transportation
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| Action On Transportation |
| Action On Agriculture |
See also: As Idaho is a land-locked state and with a modest population and substantial distance to markets, Idaho producers have limited shipping options. I am consistently hearing from Idaho agriculture producers who are growing increasingly frustrated with the limited availability and high cost of rail, truck, and barge service in Idaho. Specifically, much of the concern is focused on the cost of rail shipment and limited availability of a consistent supply of rail cars to get products to markets.
This is a real problem in Idaho and other states with similar challenges, and I support efforts to find solutions. I have held several town hall meetings throughout the state to listen to the problems that agriculture producers are having in getting their products to market. This issue is a top priority of mine and I am determined to come up with a workable solution that allows growers in Idaho to pay a fair and equitable price to ship their products to market. The high cost of rail shipment in Idaho is a symptom of a much larger, nationwide set of transportation issues. Any solution to the problem must be considered at the national level and applied to all affected localities. The infrastructure improvements needed to keep up with the growth in freight transportation nationwide are very costly and can not be funded through existing mechanisms.
Railroads, in Idaho and elsewhere, are already running at capacity. It has become apparent that freight rail transportation must be expanded to carry a proportionate share of the anticipated growth in freight to preserve agricultural, timber and chemical businesses in the western US. The total cost to maintain rail's share of freight movement in the U.S. is estimated at $175 to $195 billion over 20 years, most of which will come from the railroad companies through revenue and borrowing, and the remainder of which from other sources, including the federal government. I am committed to working with both state and federal government officials to create workable public-private partnerships that will improve our nation�s infrastructure.
One such program that has already proven itself is a tax credit for short-line railroad infrastructure investment. This tax credit provides an incentive for short-line railroads to invest in improving their existing tracks and build new tracks in order to help alleviate the current capacity issues that they face. The credit expired in 2007 and, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I have agreed to champion its renewal. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to ensure that this successful tax credit is renewed and improved so that short-line railroad companies are able to invest even more in improving the rail infrastructure of our country.
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