���ϳԹ���

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has proposed a rule that would eliminate requirements for special permits to haul some hazmats, ranging from liquefied petroleum gas to anhydrous ammonia fertilizers.

Oil prices fell near $77 Wednesday after a report showed that crude supplies jumped last week, the Associated Press reported.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood rejected raising fuel taxes to pay for highway improvements and said that, despite pessimism about the prospects for a long-term highway bill, the administration was focused on completing a bill this year.

President Obama signed into law a financial reform bill that includes provisions aimed at reducing speculative trading in commodities such as crude oil and diesel fuel and limiting the fees that credit-card companies can charge merchants for their services.

The U.S. trade deficit widened 4.8% in May to the highest level in a year and a half, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

Massachusetts has indefinitely suspended a 2% biodiesel mandate for fuel and heating oil that was to take effect this month, saying that without the federal tax credit for the producers, the cost of biodiesel would be too high for consumers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, noting “growing interest” in alternative-fuel conversion systems, recently proposed to streamline certification of aftermarket conversions that turn Class 8 diesel engines into engines that can burn diesel and natural gas.

The California Air Resources Board has awarded $200 million in Proposition 1B funds to help cut emissions from heavy-duty trucks and other sources in the state’s four busiest trade corridors.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators left a closed-door White House meeting with President Obama last week divided over whether energy and climate legislation could pass and uncertain what form it might take.

A new study has found that nationwide adoption of a low-carbon fuel standard would increase the retail cost of motor fuel by as much as 170% over a 10-year period.