ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Michigan state senators are still attempting to hammer out a transportation funding plan that would replace the state’s per-gallon tax on diesel and gasoline with a wholesale sales tax on fuel.

The price of U.S. retail diesel rose by 0.4 cent to $3.975 a gallon, the second consecutive weekly increase after a five-week decline, the Department of Energy reported.

Federal regulators should develop a separate standard for natural gas-powered vehicles when they finalize the second phase of the government’s emissions reduction and fuel-efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, according to a new report by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.

By now, you’re well aware of President Obama’s announcement that he will direct the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation to set the next — i.e., the post-2018 — round of medium- and heavy-truck fuel economy and emissions standards.

Connecticut truckers implored the state’s General Assembly to order the Department of Transportation to investigate side effects from the use of magnesium chloride to melt snow and ice on roads and to seek alternative treatments.

Reaction to President Obama’s call for tighter carbon dioxide emissions rules for trucks poured in quickly with the first wave of comment generally offering approval, although there were also calls for caution, including from American Trucking Associations.

A federal appeals court has upheld a provision in California’s landmark 2007 global warming law requiring the oil industry to reduce the carbon content in diesel and gasoline fuels by at least 10% by 2020.

The adoption of natural gas as a transportation fuel continues to pick up speed. It is no surprise to me: I spent more than 30 years in the waste business and was the CEO of Republic Services, which is now the nation’s second-largest waste services provider, when the industry began to consider transitioning from diesel, a fuel we had used for decades. I understand the challenges in making the decision to switch to natural gas.

The Maryland Motor Truck Association will oppose a transportation funding plan put forth by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) that includes a new sales tax on motor fuel and a 5-cent reduction in the gasoline tax but not in the diesel tax.

Trucking fleets wasted some $27 billion on fuel and wages as their vehicles sat in traffic jams around the country during 2011, according to a new report from Texas A&M University’s Transportation Institute.