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Instead of heat dissipating dynamic braking...

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Larry and Paul,   I agree that this would ultimately be a tax on the consumer.  As to the fairness between different modes of transportation, the paper addresses that issue in the section on pages 51-54 where the pros and cons of various methods of collection are discussed.  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Overall, this seems very similar to a cap and trade system except that, so far, it lacks the “trade” component or anything similar.  So far, it is just a cap and fill-in-the-blank system, so it seems to be a work in progress.  And while the second component has not yet been decided, but it seems likely to be a tax or fee collected by the government.   <o:p></o:p> Furthermore, the cap component is not really a cap, but rather sliding scale of restrictiveness, which would correspond to a sliding scale of fees.   <o:p></o:p> And still furthermore, unlike a cap and trade system, which would only apply to the emission of CO2, this system of charging taxes or fees for environmental impact would apply to many facets of supposed pollution, including noise and visual impact.   Look at it this way:  Prior to this new system, laws simply limited the amount of noise and vibration that a train could make.  So, trains could vibrate and make noise with impunity as long as they did not exceed the legal limit.  Now with this new system, the societal harm of a train’s noise and vibration at all levels of intensity is calculated, and the railroad operating the train is charged a sliding fee that corresponds to the amount of noise and vibration they produce, even if the noise and vibration is very small.  I suppose they would say that no amount of noise and vibration is 100% safe.
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