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The biodiesel industry was at a virtual standstill last week, despite an assurance by two Senate leaders they will introduce legislation “as soon as possible” to reinstate the tax credit that expired on Dec. 31.

Lawyers for American Trucking Associations said they will ask a federal judge on Jan. 11 to forgo a trial in ATA’s clean trucks lawsuit against the Port of Los Angeles and instead to issue a summary judgment in their favor.

Attorneys for American Trucking Associations said that on Jan. 11 they will ask a federal judge to forego a trial in their clean trucks lawsuit against the Port of Los Angeles and instead issue a summary judgment in the trade association’s favor.

Beginning Jan. 1, officials at the Southern California sister ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will face yet another challenge as they begin the second phase of their clean trucks plans: fewer trucks.

Today’s new diesel-power trucks are, by law, equipped with particulate filters, and in many models the DPF will soon will be joined by another aftertreatment device — selective catalytic reduction, or SCR, in a canister.

Donaldson Co., a manufacturer of filtration systems, said Monday it is spending $5 million to enable one of its plants to manufacture parts that comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2010 diesel emission standards.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week declared that greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities are a danger to human health, a first step the agency must take along the path to regulations limiting the levels of combustion by-products from tailpipes.

The California Air Resources Board last week began to look into changing the state’s diesel emissions rule, which could give truckers hit by the recession more “flexibility” or even partial delays of one or two years in complying.