WASHINGTON—Iowans may be happy to know that advocates in Washington are pushing for legislation to expand and sustain the domestic freight rail network.
A report released Tuesday shows that investments in America’s freight rail system can create 7,800 green jobs for every $1 billion of capital invested.
More than 40 percent of the freight moving through Iowa travels by rail according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.
The study, conducted by the Blue Green Alliance and the Economic Policy Institute, was revealed at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference..
“Over the past few centuries rail helped America become the leading world economic power,” said Rob McCulloch, legislative advocate for the Blue Green Alliance. “In the 21st century there is no reason why it shouldn’t be able to do the same while creating green jobs.”
The jobs are considered green because freight rail is more efficient than trucking and aviation. On a per-ton basis, for example, on average trucking uses four times the energy to transport freight compared to rail, according to the report. Environmental Protection Agency statistics show that in 2007, the last year figures were available, freight rail accounted for 3 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions compared with other transportation emissions. Trucking accounted for 21 percent of emissions and passenger vehicles mostly accounted for the other 71 percent.
“Failure to invest in rail is one of the core reasons we have been wasting oil,” said Carl Pope, executive chairman of the Sierra Club.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was on hand at the conference to lend her support for efforts to create green jobs.
The advocates are pushing for the passage of two bills in the House of Representatives. One would renew a tax credit that supports short line rail, which before it expired helped spur $330 million of regional track improvements last year, creating or sustaining 125,000 jobs, according to McCulloch. The other bill aims to provide a tax credit for investments that would expand the rail system.
From 1985 to 2008 the tons of rail freight traveling through Iowa increased by 178 percent, according to the state’s transportation department.
Daniel Sabin, the president of Iowa Northern Railway Co., who supports legislation to expand rail in the U.S., said the transportation industry in Iowa is healthy and continues to grow.
“We are seeing a lot of folks approach their business’ models to include rail to save money,” Sabin said. “There is a new generation of thinking because rail is one of the most fuel efficient methods of transportation.”
Edward Hamberger, the president of the American Association of Railroads, said that two major investments could be made across the board to expand rail. He explained that much of the long-distance routes in the U.S. are still a single track. Doubling the track would greatly increase efficiency. The other area that needs work is improving rail yard productivity.
The manufacturing and construction sectors would benefit the most from freight rail expansion.
“We are talking about signal systems, the steel that goes into the rails, laying the foundation for the rail and new communication systems,” Hamberger said. “These are real American jobs that would be created.”