ATA wants Bush to give truckers a break at the pump

ARLINGTON, Va. – The American Trucking Associations is urging the Bush Administration to act quickly to ensure that strategies are in place to ensure an affordable supply of oil for the nation’s 3.5 million truck drivers and American consumers.

The trucking industry is experiencing the highest prolonged fuel prices in history. Historically, fuel represented the second-highest operating expense for motor carriers. For some motor carriers, however, fuel is beginning to surpass labor as their largest expense, says ATA.

ATA is urging the federal government to help bring down the price of diesel fuel and to alleviate trucking companies’ hardships through such initiatives and polices such as :

— Stop filling and instead release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and establishing a national diesel fuel standard; allow environmentally responsible exploration of oil-rich areas such as the Arctic and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

— Work with the 50 state Attorneys General to combat any fuel price gouging that might occur.

American carriers have lots of ideas of Washington
can relieve truckers from soaring fuel costs.

— Continue to fund EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership Program, which encourages fuel-saving strategies; and streamline EPA’s regulatory framework for reviewing and processing applications for additional refinery operations.

— Suspend the collection of the 12 percent federal excise tax on motor carriers’ purchase of auxiliary power units (APUs), which cut the consumption of fuels in idling truck engines; and require states to grant a weight exemption for APUs.

Like its Canadian cousin, the ATA is also lobbying for mandatory speed limiters on all trucks to be set at 68 mph. However, unlike the Canadian Trucking Alliance, the ATA is calling for a national speed limit of 65 mph for all vehicles.

Ontario is the first jurisdiction in North America to table speed limiter legislation. If approved by Queen’s Park, speed limiters programmed at 105 km/h could be required later this year for all truck working inside the province.

“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 ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “The industry is doing its part to conserve fuel, but we need help.”