American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves told a House of Representatives panel Thursday that policymakers need to ensure the trucking industry has access to affordable diesel.
“There is no single solution to high oil prices,” Graves told the Natural Resources Committee, according to an ATA statement. “We are not going to be able to either simply conserve or drill our way out of this crisis. We must do both.”
In prepared testimony, Graves told lawmakers to take measures to increase domestic production of crude oil.
He said the Obama administration should issue more drilling permits for the Gulf of Mexico, encourage drilling in the Atlantic Ocean and eastern Gulf of Mexico and promote oil shale and coal-to-liquid and gas-to-liquid fuels.
Graves also asked the committee to promote the growth of natural gas-powered heavy-duty vehicles.
His testimony came a day after President Barack Obama called for new incentives to increase energy production, stricter fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles and a greater reliance on alternative sources of energy, all to reduce energy costs.
In his speech Wednesday, Obama set a goal of cutting the country's oil imports by a third within 10 years, Bloomberg reported.
