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For the first time since September 2010, the national retail average price for a gallon of diesel fuel is below $3 a gallon, which means trucking executives are both spending less money and pulling in less revenue as fuel surcharge receipts dwindle.

The average price of U.S. diesel fell for the 10th week in a row, with the 12-cent decline Jan. 19 taking trucking’s main fuel below the $3-per-gallon level for the first time September 2010.

The downward spiral of diesel’s national average pump price continued last week, falling closer to the $3 mark.

Sliding farm demand after the U.S. harvest and milder weather brings diesel, nearly identical to heating oil, more in line with gasoline.

U.S. retail diesel will average $2.85 per gallon this year, the Department of Energy said, lowering its most recent forecast by 22 cents.

Diesel’s national average pump price declined 8.4 cents to $3.053 a gallon, a four-year low, the Department of Energy reported Jan. 12.

WASHINGTON — Environmental officials from California and the East Coast said during a Transportation Research Board panel here that trucks still require special attention because of diesel emissions, even though such output became much cleaner from 1998 to 2010.

Diesel prices began the new year the same way they finished 2014, with the U.S. retail average falling 7.6 cents to $3.137 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.

Diesel prices started the new year the way they ended 2014, falling 7.6 cents to $3.137 a gallon as oil prices fell below $50 a barrel for the first time in almost six years.

The average price of U.S. retail diesel fell 6.8 cents a gallon for the final week of the year to $3.213, the U.S. Department of Energy said Dec. 29.