Since its introduction in the House of Representatives earlier this year, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) or H.R. 2454,( a.k.a the Waxman- Markey bill for its sponsors Henry Waxman, D-CA, and Ed Markey, D-MA,) has been drawing both strong support and opposition from various interest groups. And now some large, nationwide motor carrier shave signaled they oppose a key provision of the bill—largely on the grounds that as written, it is patently unfair to trucking to the point of threatening its future existence..

Within its five separate titles detailed over nearly 1,000 pages, the carbon cap and trade provision is arguably the most controversial. Now some truck fleets are joining the ranks of those against the cap and trade provision, including Con-Way and Schneider National.

According to C. Randal Mullett, v.p. government relations & public affairs for Con-Way, one of the biggest problems with the cap and trade program is that it is unfair to the trucking industry, asking trucking to pay a disproportionate percentage of the costs while delivering no benefits or concessions in exchange, such as those being offered to the coal-fired utilities. “If transportation does not get allowances like the other segments [of the economy], we have no choice but to oppose it,” Mullett said.

Those “allowances” are the carbon credits side of the equation, and the credits that would initially be allocated by the federal government to certain industries are among the most contentious aspects of this bill. According to Grist.beta, for example, the cap and trade process would start by dividing up a starter pool of carbon credits among these industries:

• 15% would be given to energy-intensive industries like iron, steel, cement, and paper until 2025
• 5% would be given to merchant coal generators (companies that sell coal-generated electricity to other companies at market prices) and to electricity producers obligated to supply electricity under long-term contracts; the giveaways would be phased out from 2026 through 2030
• 2% would be given to oil refineries starting in 2014 and ending in 2026
• 2% would be given to electric utilities between 2014 and 2017, and 5 percent thereafter, to cover the costs of deploying carbon capture and sequestration technology