A Warwick legislator is looking to clean up the air around T.F. Green Airport.
The good news, according to Rep. Joseph M. McNamara, a Democrat, is that gasoline supplies are up and prices are creeping back down.
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The bad news, he said, is that they got that high in the first place, and they likely will again somewhere down the road — again and again.
Fossil fuels are not cheap, and they’re also not very clean, said McNamara.
“It’s time our nation, and our auto manufacturers, got serious about promoting alternative fuels,” said McNamara. “Even our president has seen the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels when he announced that he wants to consider tax credits as a way to boost advances in alternative fuel vehicles.”
Rhode Island’s Alternative Fueled Vehicle and Filling Station Tax Credit law has been on the books since 1998, enacted in response to pressure from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to reduce air pollution.
The law provides major tax incentives for operators of alternative fueled vehicles and filling stations. The aim is to make the cost of buying and operating alternative fuel vehicles – as an individual or a corporation running a fleet of vehicles – about the same as that of buying and running vehicles that use gasoline or diesel fuel.
McNamara said Rhode Island now has an opportunity to make the alternative fuel law good not only for those who take advantage of the tax incentive, but good also for a section of the state that sees its share of traffic congestion and air quality problems – the area surrounding T.F.Green Airport.
“Green is growing, in air traffic and consequent commuter traffic,” he said. “More planes mean more jet fuel fumes. More air traffic means more vehicles arriving and leaving the airport area. With expectations of this section of the city growing into a broad, intermodal area – trains, hotels, parking garages, rental car companies cropping up to serve Green – improvements in the alternative fuel law could be a blessing, financially and environmentally.”
McNamara’s legislation would seek a discount from the Rhode Island Airport Corporation on any fees charged to motor carriers (such as airport-hotel shuttles or taxis) and rental car companies that purchase or use alternative fuel vehicles.
At the same time, the bill is seeking to hike the tax incentive from 50 percent to 60 percent for those companies using alternative fuel vehicles in their fleets.
“Motor carriers that have service contracts with Green – such as taxi companies, shuttle bus firms – would benefit doubly, by being able to apply for the state tax incentive and by getting a fee break from the airport,” he said.
While the legislation is aimed at the area surrounding the airport, McNamara said he hoped such a law would promote a general growth in the use of cleaner vehicles.
“It is, honestly, difficult to assess how successful the incentive plan has been,” he said, “primarily because the state tax office does not specifically track this tax creditWhat is important is that as a state we encourage the use of this tax credit by encouraging the use of alternative fuel vehicles.”
In addition to seeking fee discounts from the Airport Corporation and increasing the tax incentive by 10 percent, the proposed legislation also would extend the life of the incentive from the year 2003, the date listed in the 1998 legislation, to the year 2009.
“Crowded southern New England is a perfect place to encourage alternative fuel vehicles,” said McNamara.
Emission testing results
The Rhode Island Emissions and Safety Testing Program reports that nearly 87,000
vehicles have been tested in the first three months of this year and, once again,
most vehicles are passing.
The first quarter results are in line with last year, with 85 percent of all vehicles passing inspection and 15 percent failing for safety or emissions or both. Ten percent of all vehicles tested failed for safety problems, and the failure rate for emissions, with the same standards as last year, was 7 percent.
“To equally distribute test volume, last year half the vehicles in the fleet were given a one-year inspection which consisted of a two-speed idle emissions test,” said Stephen Majkut, chief of the Division of Air Resources at the state Department of Environmental Management. “This year those cars and trucks are encountering for the first time the more sophisticated dynamometer inspection that also tests for nitrogen oxides, an important component in ground level ozone or smog.”
It is also important to note, said Program Manager Paul Cherepinsky, that the enhanced testing in place in Rhode Island is but a “snapshot” of how the vehicle is performing at a given time.
“With vehicles receiving the more stringent test, and a year gone by, a vehicle that passed last year may not necessarily pass this year,” he said.
