Enclosed is a copy of my letter to the Observer editor published today, concerning my views on Keystone XL.
While you may not agree with my views, you are free to remove your support of Keystone XL for the very reasons I point out in my letter. Frankly, you should, you should do it soon, and you should do it very publicly.
Considering I have been involved in the oil and trucking businesses for over 31 years, you might take my experience to heart.
Keystone XL has no legislation to PREVENT oil being run right into tankers bound for China, India, South America, ad nauseum…. Read your own bill. This is the most egregious of the Keystone XL issues and does nothing for easing our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
The Canadians are under no obligation to sell the sand tar oil to the USA. Again, it’s not in your bill.
Keystone XL , if approved, will not make one dollar’s difference (or a penny’s difference, for that matter) in gas prices here in the USA, as pricing for any oil products is determined by world pricing and the speculators on the commodities markets, something (regulation of speculation) members of your party have been opposed to from the get go. There are steps you could have/can make to our oil dependency problem, as they are outlined in my letter to Observer Editor and in the following paragraphs.
President Obama and the State Department (and Interior as well) did NOT say no to Keystone XL in January, they just said not until the studies are completed. Another LIE by the Republicans…… Keystone XL has been rumored to hook up to Bakken oil fields (see below), but Bakken is a gas field, not a tar sand field. The two do not mix.
Bakken oil fields–
Just today, Rick Santorum went on a rant about a small town, Tioga, in North Dakota and how the Federal EPA was preventing drilling there. Ted, this is a bold faced lie. There are over 200 drilling companies operating in western North Dakota. The problem in North Dakota is infrastructure, not the EPA. Santorum was inaccurate and was just playing politics in his comments, not stating fact—he lied. He didn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about. He’s never been to Tioga, or anywhere in western North Dakota in his entire life. And, your support of demolishing the EPA is of no help, either, which just adds to the insanity of dirty air and water regardless of corporate profits or not. Fact is, EPA regs do create jobs, and you are ignorant to say that they kill jobs (Republican rhetoric).
Ted, I have been to the Bakken oil fields (North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming) numerous times over the last 5 years, and as recently as this past January.
Here are some facts regarding that area:
Diesel fuel prices are raping (yes, raping) the people in this area due to demand—as much as $.70 per gallon plus more than fuel less than a few hundred miles to the south in Rapid City, SD. (Diesel fuel pricing is something I do know a thing or two about. We don’t even have a spread like that from Texas to California in pricing.) Motels in Williston ND are totally booked up (forever it seems), with 10 more under construction. Sidney MT is no better for seeking a room to stay in. Truck stops are very few and far between, with driver shower waiting times lasting for days—imagine a driver arriving there to unload (after a 1700 mile trip), unable to unload for days due to logistical issues, and then not being able to just take a shower once a day because there are none, or the wait is two days off. Even Walmart has increased its starting wages upwards of $10-12 per hour. McDonald’s restaurants can’t even keep the main lobby open due to lack of personnel. The lone rental car company in Sidney MT will be happy to rent you a vehicle for $125 per day, if they have one available. Farmers are renting RVs that sleep 4 to the tune of $1400 per person per month, just for oil workers to have a place to stay. A meal will cost you 50% more in those areas….
And by the way… our current largest export is gasoline—yes, gasoline. Why are we exporting gasoline to South America and Europe, when our costs at the pump have gone up $.37 in the last few months? Why are we exporting diesel fuel to Europe as well, when my fuel cost just for one rig went up over $20,000 last year? Why? I know why….but it doesn’t have to be that way…..
On another note—
In the letter you sent to me, in response to my conversation about Truck weigh stations and the obvious implication of revenue versus safety, you didn’t even address the issue I brought up, other than to voice your opposition to Mexican trucks in the USA if they didn’t meet compliance requirements. No, Ted….not just no admittance for non-compliance, just plain no Mexican trucks, period. It’s American jobs I’m talking about here, compliance is only a mechanism to make sure everyone is doing their part for safety’s sake. No Mexican trucks in the USA, and you need to be very clear when speaking about this, very clear. Your letter left the impression that you would be in favor of Mexican trucks in the USA if they were in compliance. Who’s side are you really on? America’s truckers like me, or Mexican job stealers?
You did, however, inform me of your support for increased weights and dims (LCVs) that the American Trucking Association and US Chamber of Commerce and the large super carriers have been pushing for several years now.
Ted, as a Senior Member of the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association with 31 years in the business, I can tell you that OOIDA and its membership is dead set against increased weights and dims. Ted, even if you could show me that hauling another 17,000lbs is going to be profitable for me—and you can’t, I still would be against the increase. Anything over 80,000 currently is deemed oversized freight, and is rate priced as such. There should be no changes to this. Freight rates (how much we truckers get paid) for the increased weight and dims will remain flat/same, and the rates for 80,000 to 97,000 will become “legal dimension” rated (non-overdimensional). You are going to kill off what little rate structure we have at present. Is this really what you want to do? And I haven’t even touched on what the states (who currently do not allow for over 80,000 gvw) will charge in increased licensing fees and road use taxes (costs to be assessed to the truckers), and the upheaval of their regulatory structure in the changeover from 80,000 to 97,000lbs. Imagine the state offices and their nightmare of coming into compliance with this??? And then there is the cost of trailer replacement, in moving to bigger, larger capacity units. This cost will add another $10,000 per year to my operation. Again, you can’t show me the money, except that it will be leaving my bank account in large amounts.
This is just another attempt for big business and the large super carriers to make it uncompetitive for independents like myself. All of this Republican rhetoric of being for the small business owners, and this is what you are doing to us? You will facilitate our demise, putting us out of business in a hurry. And there are no provisions for increased damage and repair to our nation’s highways…. or costs (tax increases) for handling these impacts.
Heck, you guys can’t even get a highway bill signed into law without dragging in some female reproductive legislation. What does birth control have to do with highway construction? NOTHING!!!! This is insane. Think about what I just said….insane. On a political note, this insanity is not unusual for those of your party, but I digress… Back to the subject at hand–
When STAA became law in 1984, the freight rates remained the same, yet trucking was allowed to haul 80,000 and 48ft trailers (now up to 53ft) from the prior 73,280lbs. As you have proven once again, your lack of knowledge of business is showing….. Why would anyone haul more weight, longer and more trailers, without an increase in revenue to compensate for the increased wear and tear on equipment and lower fuel mileage numbers? I guarantee you it will happen, more weight hauled for free….This is just dumb.
Here’s what you can do for our country:
1. Federal mandatory fuel surcharge, based on $1.25 per gallon basis cost, based on industry wide 5 mpg. FSC above this basis cost to be paid directly to the purchaser of fuel—no one else to benefit from FSC.
2. RE-write Keystone XL legislation to include a USA end user ONLY clause. No oil or its refined products to be sold overseas to any other country.
3. All current oil and its refined products to be USA end user ONLY. No exports of domestic crude or its refined products to any other country.
Please understand, Ted, I am in business to make money, not support the oil companies’ profits. My fuel costs last year went up $20,000 just last year for one truck, and this year it will be worse. I have some customers that pay a fuel surcharge, but most do not. A Federal FSC law would change that, Keystone XL will not. Preventing oil exports will help our supplies, but transporting Canadian oil for sale to the Chinese will not.
The next time you decide to get involved in an issue like this, you might seek the knowledge and experience of those who are in the business, or at least those who have been there to see the actual facts that are happening on the ground. Sometimes, many times, I am a very good source for that information, even though you may not like my answers or facts as they are—your choice.
Just like when I asked you about Arizona’s BLM warning signs….and you didn’t have a clue. You know…the 8 signs that you said were spread out across Arizona’s southern border? Well, Ted, there are actually 13, spread in only a 47 mile area off road from Interstate 8, not the entire 190 mile I-8 corridor, beyond sight from the highway. Not as terrible as FOX NEWS reported (I suppose you got your information from them?), but if you are going to give a lecture, you might get your facts straight. I knew exactly where they were and how many. Why? Because I’ve been there, Ted, done that. And your story was totally inaccurate. A 10 second search on the internet would have given you the facts, but I doubt that your staff didn’t even get that far, and that is sad. Blowing me off with some idea of them (the BLM warning signs) being put up in that past two weeks was lame, Ted….just lame, and I don’t forget things like this.
Please take time to read my original letter to the Observer Editor, and do something about it.
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