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Retail diesel prices fell 2.1 cents a gallon to $4.127 last week, the U.S. Department of Energy reported, continuing a recent pattern of modest cost fluctuation after sharp increases earlier in the year.

Three more companies have agreed to settle lawsuits related to “hot fuel” — gasoline and diesel that is not adjusted by volume to account for temperature — the Kansas City Star reported.

U.S. retail diesel prices rose 0.6 cent a gallon to $4.148 last week, the Department of Energy reported. Although the increase was small, it still caused fleet managers to express great concern as the national average hit the highest level since Aug. 18, 2008.

A proposal to eliminate the 12% federal excise tax on new trucks and trailers and to raise the federal diesel tax 6.3 cents to make up for the lost revenue to the Highway Trust Fund was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Retail diesel prices dipped 0.5 cent last week to $4.142 a gallon, interrupting a price advance that had raised the price of trucking’s main fuel nearly 30 cents over the previous nine weeks, the Department of Energy reported.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Truck and engine manufacturers at the Mid-America Trucking Show here declared natural gas the victor in the industry’s search for a practical alternative fuel to diesel, saying they could have three different types of natural-gas engines by 2013 and a nationwide network of 100 fueling stations that offer it by 2014.