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The pressure is on manufacturers of diesel engines as regional air quality agencies in California ban new purchases of diesel engines for public bus fleets and government contractors, and studies link diesel emissions to cancer and premature deaths.

A trucking group wants the Department of Transportation to take a second look at its estimates of the amount of lives its overhaul of hours-of-service regulations would save.

Members of the Truckload Carriers Association are urging shippers to join them in fighting proposed changes in the federal hours-of-service regulations governing truck drivers. They are also suggesting points to stress in filing comments with the Department of Transportation.

All of trucking is convulsing over the federal government’s proposed changes to the hours-of-service rules, but agricultural haulers say the produce, livestock and timber they haul would make it especially difficult — if not impossible — for them to abide by the Department of Transportation’s wishes.

George G. Mead, a former chief lobbyist for American Trucking Associations who was involved in the battle over deregulation, died at his home from a sudden heart attack June 28. He was 60.

Revisions in the hours-of-service regulations for truck drivers are unlikely to be finalized by year-end, a congressional panel was told last week.

Leaders of American Trucking Associations rejected a proposal to allow the Truckload Carriers Association to pay a monthly affiliation fee rather than require its members to join the federation.

Retail gasoline prices surged above $2 a gallon in the Midwest last week and sparked a Federal Trade Commission investigation into possible price gouging. he record-breaking prices led at least one state to temporarily suspend its fuel tax.

Would a federal requirement for “black boxes” — in-truck computers that function as electronic logbooks — sound the death knell for small trucking operations? Some think so.