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Forget about getting truck drivers to remove snow and ice from trailer rooftops. For one, many drivers cannot even walk across the parking lot, let alone be expected to somehow get on top of a trailer roof.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week took the first step toward creating a national cap-and-trade system, proposing a new rule that would establish a federal system for reporting carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases produced by large stationary and mobile sources.

In its continued attack on greenhouse gas emissions, the California Air Resources Board recently proposed a rule cutting the “carbon intensity” of transportation fuels.

The California Air Resources Board urged federal regulators to reverse a Bush administration decision that blocks the state’s efforts to set its own limits on greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, the Associated Press reported.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said the country should move quickly to a vehicle-miles tax but meanwhile should raise fuel taxes significantly, al-though the higher taxes shouldn’t take effect for at least two years.

Your story on the demise of RigMaster comes as no surprise in a sector of the truck market that has seen a drastic downturn of new business, mostly exacerbated by tightening of credit markets (2-9, p. 4).

Truck engine makers planning to use selective catalytic reduction in 2010 engines lashed out last week against what one executive called “unsubstantiated attacks leveled against SCR” by the one manufacturer that plans to use only exhaust gas recirculation to cut emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

President Obama called on Congress to approve legislation creating a cap-and-trade system aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Obama spoke on Feb. 24 to Congress in a joint session and invited spectators, who included the chairman of American Trucking Associations.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said federal officials should explore all options to finance infrastructure, but he later strongly rejected a fuel tax increase, at least while the economy is in recession.