American Trucking Associations President Walter B. McCormick Jr. took his case for trucking industry relief from soaring fuel prices to two of the nation’s leading media venues Thursday, with a live appearance on CNBC television’s “Market Watch” program and with lengthy remarks of his included in a Washington Post news story.
In both, McCormick again called for President Clinton to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying it would have a three-fold impact: increasing supply, decreasing prices, and demonstrating to OPEC that “they can't hold us hostage to their production policies," as he said in the Post.
McCormick voiced concern about the financial woes hitting truck companies, from a 73% rise in diesel fuel prices over the past 18 months. He told CNBC that 1,300 smaller trucking fleets have closed their doors, and more than 35,000 owner-operators have had to return the trucks they had bought as fuel prices ate away their profits.
His timing also fit in with major news developments on the SPR issue. Vice President and Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore called Thursday for releases from the reserve to knock prices down before winter.
Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has criticized the administration for failing to have an effective energy policy, and a Wall Street Journal story Thursday said both Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan opposed tapping the SPR.
