MONEY

High-speed rails pitched as way to cut fuel use

Donnelle Eller,
deller@dmreg.com;

Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn wants Iowa leaders to get on the bus when it comes to high-speed passenger rail.

Quinn argued Wednesday at a climate change task force meeting that high-speed rail connecting several Midwest states would boost regional sustainability — improving efficiencies and cutting fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.

And potentially increase fun, he said. A proposed line from Chicago to St. Louis, for example, would get “Cub fans to Busch Stadium a little bit faster,” and they’d hopefully “come back happier,” said Quinn at a news conference at President Barack Obama’s Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience in Des Moines.

The panel — including eight governors, 16 mayors and two tribal representatives — met Wednesday at the World Food Prize headquarters. It was the third of four meetings. The group plans to make recommendations to the president this fall.

High-speed rail advocates propose an Iowa line connecting Chicago to the Quad Cities, Iowa City and Des Moines — and eventually Omaha. The proposal also calls for connecting Chicago with Detroit and Indianapolis.

Quinn said an Iowa line needs support from Gov. Terry Branstad and state lawmakers. “We need everybody in,” he said.

State Democrats have struggled to get Republicans to sign on to the idea. GOP leaders have said they’re concerned the proposal would require ongoing taxpayer subsidies.

Another hot topic is a federal mandate requiring that renewable fuels be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply. When challenged on whether the group discussed the issue, leaders said it wasn’t debated but it doesn’t diminish its importance.

David Agnew, director of White House Intergovernmental Affairs, said Branstad and others have made known their support for continuing the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. Critics, including the petroleum industry, are fighting to lower the amount of ethanol and biodiesel that must be blended into fuel annually.

Bob Perciasepe, deputy director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said renewable fuels are a “growing and important part of our ability to reduce greenhouse gases.”

He declined to say whether the standard would be reduced, a move the American Petroleum Institute and other groups have aggressively sought. The EPA expects to make a decision on the RFS in late spring, Perciasepe said.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and others at the meeting said work to prepare for and reduce the impact of climate change will take many groups working together. “No company, no individual can go it alone,” Jewell said. “We must act now, and as a team.”