KTKA

State officials are considering a proposal to lower the speed limit on Kansas highways from 70 mph to 65 mph as a way to reduce climate-changing carbon dioxide emissions.

"Sixty-five was not seen as such a huge change," Liz Brosius, executive director of the Kansas Energy Council, said Monday. "That was some of the thinking behind it."

In Kansas, 70 mph speed limits exist on segments of interstates, some divided highways and the Kansas Turnpike.

Lowering the speed limit was recommended by the KEC Greenhouse Gas Policy Committee. The committee's work will be considered by the full KEC on Aug. 13.

A drop in speed may even gain some political torque as a fuel-saver during times of record fuel prices, officials said.

"I would be surprised if it doesn't go through," said Sarah Dean, of Lawrence, who serves on the Greenhouse Gas panel. In general, each 5 mph increase in speed increases fuel consumption from 7 percent to 23 percent, Brosius said.

The Greenhouse panel also suggested that perhaps lawmakers consider increases in fines for speed violations and repeal of the law that states violations of less than 10 mph over the speed limit in 55 mph to 70 mph zones not count as moving violations.

Recently, the American Trucking Association recommended a national 65 mph speed limit because of record fuel prices.

"The signs are troubling. We are concerned about fuel's direct impact on our industry and also its effects on the nation's economy," said Bill Graves, former Kansas governor and current ATA president and chief executive. "The industry is doing its part to conserve fuel, but we need help."

Tom Whitaker, executive director of the Kansas Motor Carriers Association, said that his group, which includes 1,162 trucking companies, doesn't take a stand on a specific speed limit. But the group advocates that speed limits should be uniform throughout the nation, not differentiate between trucks and cars, and be strictly enforced.

Whitaker said, however, the increasing price of diesel has hit trucking firms hard.

"As fuel prices go up, bankruptcies go up," he said.