Transportation Energy Policy
NATSO thinks it is best for the American consumer and America’s industrial and geopolitical position in the world marketplace to have reasonably low and stable energy prices. As the refueling landscape evolves, truck stops, and travel centers are expanding the nation’s fuel supply options by investing in many alternative fuels, including biodiesel, renewable diesel, hydrogen, natural gas, and electricity.
Over the past few decades, federal policies such as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the Biodiesel Tax Credit have created a strong incentive for fuel retailers to invest in the infrastructure necessary to bring alternative fuels to market.
NATSO works with policymakers to pursue market-oriented, consumer-focused policies that:
- Enhance the fuel supply;
- Lower fuel prices for consumers, and
- Improve the environmental attributes of transportation energy.
A) Renewable Volume Obligations: The implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) represents the best opportunity to prompt tangible, immediate carbon reductions in transportation energy. There is no other policy that can result in immediate carbon reductions in the fuel supply. NATSO encourages the Environmental Protection Agency to send unambiguous signals to the market that investments in lower carbon fuels will be rewarded by setting ambitious targets for advanced biofuel blending and through ambitious growth in ethanol.
B) Biodiesel Tax Credit: The biodiesel tax credit fostered growth in the domestic biodiesel market for decades by spurring fuel retailers to invest in the necessary infrastructure to sell low-carbon alternative fuels and offer them to the public at the lowest possible cost. The $1.00 per gallon biodiesel blenders’ tax credit, which expired at the end of 2024, helped fuel retailers to sell biodiesel at a price that is cost competitive with gasoline and diesel, thereby advancing consumer consumption. Biodiesel plays a critical role in reducing carbon emissions while reducing the costs of all goods moved by truck.
The U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel market has grown to approximately 3 billion gallons in 2020 from roughly 100 million gallons in 2005. Biodiesel and renewable diesel eliminated 15 million metric tons of CO2 in California alone in 2020, the equivalent of taking more than 3 million passenger cars off the roads. Compared with petroleum-based diesel, renewable diesel and biodiesel reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent. Today, renewable diesel and biodiesel constitute more than half of the diesel supply in California, according to the California Air Resources Board.
C) eRINS: NATSO thinks that the Renewable Fuel Standard’s existing incentive framework should evolve to incentivize EV charging investment as well as investments in renewable liquid fuels. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a framework for how electric Renewable Identification Numbers (eRINs) would be permitted under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The proposal would allow automakers to generate a RIN when electricity is produced from qualifying renewable biomass. NATSO opposes placing the value of eRINs at other segments of the value chain, such as with automakers. Doing so would not incentivize private investment in charging stations or consumer investment in EVs because the eRINs’ value would not be shared throughout the value chain. Rather, it would provide additional incentives to an industry already encouraged to invest in EVs via separate federal policies. For charging station owners and operators, eRINs represent an opportunity to offset costs for fuel retailers so that they can make investments in electric vehicle charging stations.
Highway and Infrastructure Policy
Truck Parking
Truck stops and travel centers operate under a business model that allows truck drivers the ability to meet their federally mandated rest requirements as well as the ability to access restaurants, restrooms, showers, travel centers, convenience stores, medical services and a host of other services that drivers typically can’t access elsewhere when operating a commercial vehicle due to its size.
The industry’s supply of truck parking, coupled with the amenities and services that truck drivers need, makes truck stops and travel centers the stopping location of choice for the nation’s professional truck drivers.
The private sector is best suited to provide truck parking. To the extent that policymakers want taxpayers to subsidize truck parking expansion, such investments should be undertaken in partnership with the private sector to ensure that federal funds are maximized. Funds should not enable states, localities, or others to provide truck parking in a manner that directly competes with off-highway businesses, which would undermine the industry’s incentives to expand truck parking capacity.
NATSO supports language in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s BUILD America 250 Act, which would set aside $750 million for truck parking grants and allow state departments of transportation to partner with private providers of truck parking.
Rest Area Commercialization
Current law prohibits commercial services in rest areas on the Interstate right-of-way, including the prohibition of electric vehicle (EV) charging or other automotive services.
When Congress created the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s, community leaders feared that local businesses, jobs, and tax bases would shrink as truck drivers and motorists bypassed their cities and towns. As a result, Congress prohibited states from offering commercial services, such as food and fuel, at commercial rest areas on Interstates built after January 1, 1960.
While at first glance, rest area commercialization seems like an easy and convenient way for states to generate revenue, in reality, it would jeopardize private businesses, especially small businesses. Due to their advantageous locations, state-owned commercial rest areas would establish virtual monopolies on services to highway travelers. Commercial activity will be diverted from off-highway communities to on-Interstate locations, redirecting tax revenue away from localities.
Many off-highway fuel retailers and other businesses have invested significant resources in alternative fuels, such as EV charging infrastructure. If such alternative fuels were made available at rest areas on the Interstate right-of-way, it would discourage the private sector from making investments at their locations.
Safety
Safety is a top priority of the truck stop and travel center industry. NATSO is dedicated to the safety of roadside repair technicians, commercial motor vehicle drivers, tow truck operators, law enforcement and the traveling public.
Move Over Law: Congress should pass federal legislation establishing a uniform, national “Move Over, Slow Down” law that carries consistent education and public awareness standards across all 50 states. Although almost every state has some version of a move-over law, requiring drivers to change lanes or significantly slow down when approaching stopped emergency vehicles, tow trucks, and/or vehicles with flashing hazard lights, there is not a consistent or uniform understanding of the rules of the road. In fact, data shows that drivers are often unaware that these laws are on the books. The consequences of these inconsistencies are measured in lives lost. A uniform, national “Move Over, Slow Down” standard coupled with driver education requirements and a public awareness campaign would help establish a much-needed foundation for improving safety along the Interstate Highway System.
Right to Repair: NATSO supports the right of independent Repair Facilities to access the same data and information as OEMs and licensed dealers to repair commercial motor vehicles. NATSO’s truck stop and travel center members operate more than 800 independent repair shops, many of which have relationships with the nation’s largest fleets as well as independent truck drivers. Right to Repair should cover commercial trucks to ensure that manufacturers do not lock out owners and independent service providers from providing repairs by denying access to parts, tools, and the requisite documentation needed to service vehicles.