ATA Asks Lawmakers to Take Steps to Lower Fuel Prices

American Trucking Associations asked Congress to implement a comprehensive plan to address the soaring price of diesel fuel and ensures an affordable fuel supply for the nation’s 3.5 million truck drivers.

Testifying on behalf of ATA before the House Agriculture Committee, ATA Senior Vice President Tim Lynch asked the government to implement a plan that ensures transparent petroleum markets free from excessive speculation and manipulation, cuts petroleum demand and expands the petroleum supply.

“The fuel crisis we face today is severe,” Lynch said. “There is no one single solution to high oil prices. We need to conserve fuel and increase oil production to emerge from this crisis. But neither of these in itself is a total solution. Congress must embrace a multifaceted approach to solving this problem.”

ATA asked the federal government to help bring down the price of diesel by:

• Establishing a national diesel fuel standard;

Allowing environmentally responsible exploration of oil-rich areas in the United States that are now off-limits;

• Allowing environmentally responsible development of crude resources in oil shale and tar sands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming;

• Continuing to fund Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership Program, which encourages fuel-saving strategies;

• Streamlining EPA’s regulatory framework for reviewing and processing applications for additional refinery operations;

• Requiring speed limiters set for 68 miles per hour or lower on all new trucks;

• Setting a national maximum speed limit of 65 mph;

• Suspending the collection of the 12 percent federal excise tax on motor carriers' purchase of auxiliary power units, which cut the consumption of fuels in idling truck engines; and

• Requiring states to grant a weight exemption for APUs.