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A bill that would impose a toll on oil and gas vehicles using the Dalton Highway was set aside by state lawmakers on Thursday after the public voiced concern that it would target a single industry and raise costs for Alaskans.
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Senator Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks and the sponsor of SB 286, introduced the bill in an effort to offset maintenance costs of the 414-mile long highway that runs from Livengood, north of Fairbanks, the the oilfields of Prudhoe Bay.
“We are trying to find ways to balance this budget where the cost causers are the cost payers,” he said Tuesday.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities invests approximately $16.5 million in maintenance on the Dalton Highway each year, with approximately one-third of that funding coming from the federal government.
The bill would set up a toll on two miles of the highway near Deadhorse for vehicles transporting personnel or goods for oil and gas companies. The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the company that operates the 800-mile long Trans-Alaska Pipeline System between Prudhoe Bay and Valdez, would be exempted from the toll. The bill would require oil and gas companies to reimburse operators who pay the toll within 30 days of a request for reimbursement.
Alaska Trucking Association President Jamie Benson said that while she supports infrastructure investment, the bill would single out the trucking industry and could increase costs for all Alaskans.
“While it’s framed as a maintenance solution, it functions as a targeted fee on a single industry and its supply chain, including Alaska-based trucking companies,” she told legislators Thursday afternoon.
While the bill aims to raise funds to maintain the Dalton Highway, funds raised from the toll would go into the general fund and be subject to appropriations by the legislature annually.
Members of the trucking, oil and gas industries voiced their opposition during a committee meeting on Thursday.
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Robb Christenson, director of sales and pricing at Sourdough Express, expressed concerns about government overreach.
“If we begin carving out small sections of public infrastructure and charging users based on industry, where does it stop? Today it’s two miles on the Dalton Highway, tomorrow it’s roads that access mining, timber or other resource development,” he said.
Cody Hyce, owner of Specialized Transport and Rigging in Wasilla, told legislators that the economic, legal and operational hurdles created by the bill would outweigh the benefits to the state.
“We should be looking for efficiencies in our transportation budget, not nickel and diming the very workers and resources that ensure the state’s energy independence,” he said.
According to Andy Mills, legislative liaison to the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Alaska does not currently have authorization from the federal government to establish a toll facility on the highway. The Senate State Affairs committee set the bill aside.
Senator Robert Myers, R-North Pole, told legislators that he understands the issue that they’re trying to fix, but he does not see a toll as the right solution.
Myers, who is a truck driver and travels the Dalton Highway, said that the bill poses legal issues since the highway is being rebuilt using federal funds, an equal protection issue by exempting the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and operational issues for trucking companies.
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