Pit & Quarry, September 2012

HIgHwAY B Ill 12 percent of the cost covers gas taxes that go to federal state and in some cases local governments State gas tax rates range from as low as 8 cents per gallon to as much as 49 cents New York per gallon In comparison ExxonMobils per gallon profit in 2011 was seven cents In addition to discussions about raising gas taxes levying taxes according to miles driven or establishing more toll roads legislators have considered eliminating gas taxes and obtaining highway funds directly from the federal governments general fund During debate of MAP 21 House Speaker John Boehner supported increasing development of domestic oil and gas drilling and diverting a portion of the royalties and bonus payments generated from those activities I dont know that MAP 21 will lead to a great deal of growth but it will prevent the aggregate industry from falling back any further Pam Whitted NSSGA into the HTF That proposal wasnt supported in the bills final discussion Mass transit proponents are disappointed that some initial reforms aimed at directing additional funding for cashstrapped bus and train systems that would have encouraged development of mass transit were removed from the final bill They also hope state DOTs in allocating funds at the state level will favor spending for biking and pedestrian walkways projects In an effort to expedite new road and bridge projects MAP 21 includes a provision for establishing planning deadlines on projects receiving federal funds Transportation projects receiving less than 5 million in federal funds are exempted from extensive environmental reviews under the new law Economic impact As Congress debated this latest highway bill for nearly three years 3 million Americans in the construction industry where unemployment has remained above the national rate lived under the cloud of uncertainty regarding their jobs The National Stone Sand Gravel Associations NSSGA Senior Vice President for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Pam Whitted says the new bill brings much needed stability to the construction industry In the current economic climate the level of funding the bill provides is an accomplishment However in terms of growth and impact on the aggregate industry the bills effect will be minimal because investment in the program was not increased What MAP 21 does bring to the aggregate industry is a degree of certainty which has been sadly lacking for the industry and state departments of transportation for the past 33 months You cant plan or responsibly allocate resources on three month extensions of an existing highway bill I dont know that MAP 21 will lead to a great deal of growth but it will prevent the aggregate industry from falling back any further Whitted was also pleased with the program consolidations featured in MAP 21 noting that the reforms eliminate redundancies that crept into the surface transportation legislation over the years Another key change in the bill is the environmental streamlining provision Whitted says There have been some instances in the past where environmental reviews stretched over a period of 12 years longer than it took China to build their entire interstate system Thats not productive These new provisions bring accountability to the environmental review process and will expedite project delivery I know there are some concerns about circumventing environmental requirements but the environmental streamlining provisions dont eliminate environmental reviews The legislation puts a single federal agency at the lead of multi modal projects it establishes deadlines for completion of reviews and it imposes penalties for failure to meet those deadlines These are necessary reforms because we cant have proj 60 PIT QUARRY September 2012 www pitandquarry com