 |
|
 |
|
DIESEL CRISIS Truckers and other diesel users have been concerned about the steady rise in this fuel's price over the past 12 months. While a typical projection from as recently as December ventured, "we are within 5% or 10% of the top as far as fuel prices go," last month blew the roof out of this projection-and the current severe East Coast winter certainly won't do much to soften prices. The slowly rising curve of diesel pricing over the past year shows a sudden, almost vertical streak beginning in January, and the American Trucking Associations' January 26 letter to President Clinton notes "a year ago the national average price of diesel fuel was $0.964 per gallon; today it is $1.418 per gallon-a 47% increase in one year. In the last week, the price leapt from $1.307 to $1.418, a staggering 8.5% in a single week." Reining in these increases, ATA convincingly argues, is basic to the U.S. economy and requires strong federal action. ATA is calling for the following specific actions by the federal government: for the Secretary of Energy to draw down and distribute "sufficient quantities" of petroleum from the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve; for the Secretary of State to put pressure on OPEC to increase oil production; to renegotiate government truck transportation contracts to cover the increased cost of diesel fuel; and for the Attorney General to investigate any illegal diesel price gouging. Subsequently, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has held off delivery of 5 million barrels of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve but has not committed to releasing oil from the Reserve. Another course, which some truckers are advocating, although ATA has not officially embraced it, is for Congress to rescind fuel taxes. ATA provides excellent current information and background on the crisis at the home page of its web site at www.trucking.org. Back to "News" Forest Resources Association
Inc. (FRA) |
 |