A simple letter to the editor written by Rep. Mark Kirk last week now has the Illinois Republican Senatorial hopeful in an uncomfortable spat over stimulus politics and environmental policy.
On July 16, 2009, Kirk wrote a letter to the Highland Park News making the case that Chicago's suburban bus system -- Pace -- should outfit its bus fleet with hybrids as opposed to the gas-guzzlers it had planned on purchasing. As a means of paying for the environmentally friendly rides, the candidate for Barack Obama's old seat argued that the stimulus funds were a logical vehicle.
While hybrid buses are more expensive than diesel buses ($500,000 vs. $320,000), a hybrid bus will use approximately 30,000 gallons less fuel over its lifetime. A new hybrid fleet could save more than 1 million gallons of fuel and eliminate 10,500 tons of greenhouse gases, saving taxpayers at least $2.6 million in diesel costs alone. Those savings will only increase as diesel prices rise.
When asked why it won't change course, Pace responds it will lose stimulus funds if it doesn't act quickly. Far from the case -- the stimulus only requires 50 percent of the funds designated to each transit agency to be spent within the first 180 days before those funds are lost.
Since most buses, diesel or hybrid, will be delivered later, Pace could buy hybrids to replace diesel buses for the later deliveries.
That argument landed Kirk in partisan crossfire. The DNC, which has kept a close eye on Kirk since he announced his senatorial bid, noted quickly that the congressman had actually opposed the stimulus package.
"Mark Kirk would have a lot more credibility in calling for investments in environmentally friendly technology if he had signed onto the Economic Recovery Act that invested hundreds of millions in green jobs when he had a chance," said Press Secretary Hari Sevugan.
And now, Kirk finds himself in a bit of hot water locally. The chairman of Pace's board, Richard A. Kwasneski, took a whack at Kirk in a response letter to the editor. In it, Kwasneski revealed that Kirk -- now so passionate about purchasing environmentally friendly busses -- had actually declined repeated requests from Pace for federal funds to purchase a hybrid fleet.
"Pace approached Congressman Kirk for five straight years requesting federal funding to add hybrid buses to our fleet, and each time the request was ignored," Kwasneski writes. "We've done the research to prove that buying more of the considerably less expensive diesel buses for the available funding we have will result in a greater net improvement in air quality. Emissions control technology for diesel buses has advanced to the extent that the difference in the amount of particulate matter found in exhaust from buses is essentially negligible between diesels and hybrids."