Prichard intermodal facility

So here I was, ready to write an editorial to run later this week on a plan to fund construction of the rail-to-truck and vice versa intermodal facility at Prichard. To get some more information, I check the Legislature's Web site, and I say, "Uh-oh."

There are two fiscal note summaries. One was written by the state Division of Highways and one by the state Tax Department. The DoH says the plan to use rail locomotive fuel taxes to fund construction of the Prichard facility would cost the state road fund about $7 million a year. The Tax Department questions the constitutionality of the bill.

I talked with state Sen. Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, a little while ago. He says the State Road Fund will come out okay. The Legislature is allocating more money to the Road Fund and taking the Courtesy Patrol off its hands by transferring it to the tourism department, Plymale said. "They'll have more money in Highways than they did before," Plymale said.

Plymale also said he thinks the Tax Department's concern about the consitutionality of the bill (SB 569) is not an insurmountable problem.

Plymale is right when he calls the intermodal facility one of the biggest economic development projects in this area in some time. Perhaps if the House Finance Committee and the full House of Delegates approves the bill, the facility can be built.