WASHINGTON - Last week the U.S. Senate passed a $109 billion, two-year reauthorization of surface transportation programs by a vote of 74 to 22 ?" just 16 days before current transportation funding and collection of the federal gas tax were set to expire.

NACS encouraged members of Congress to ensure the gas tax would not expire. It didn't, but the Senate did move forward with plans to raid the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Fund ?" money provided to the states and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to operate their underground storage tank (UST) programs, and to assist states in remediating releases from USTs when a responsible party cannot be found.

The Senate measure raids $3 billion currently in LUST and diverts one-third of future revenues collected for LUST to offset the Highway Trust Fund.

NACS expressed strong opposition to the Senate??s efforts, stating "Simply because Congress has failed to adequately fund the [LUST] program to date does not mean that these resources should be diverted to non-tank, non-environmental related purposes." In the years since its inception, LUST has amassed more than $3 billion, but congressional appropriators continue to cut its funding.

The fate of the transportation bill now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republican leaders must decide whether to act on a longer-term bill or agree to the Senate-negotiated bill.