Fuel

Oil prices continued to plunge Tuesday, falling more than $3 in early trading to $118 a barrel as a tropical storm did minimal damage in the Gulf of Mexico and speculation that slower economic growth will curb demand, Bloomberg reported.

Volvo Trucks North America said Monday it is now offering Bendix heavy-duty air disc brakes on Volvo VN and VT model trucks.

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies found the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions goal of 30% by 2025 to be feasible and said that alternative fuels, vehicle fuel efficiency and reducing vehicle miles traveled were central to reaching the goal, the Associated Press reported.

American Trucking Associations last week asked a federal court to block emission-reduction plans by the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that include concessionaire requirements the group said “unlawfully re-regulated the federally de-regulated trucking industry.”

The national average retail price of diesel fell 11.5 cents to $4.603 a gallon last week, the largest one-week drop in nearly two years and the second consecutive weekly decline, the Department of Energy reported.

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire said Thursday that it will raise prices by up to 10% on all of its truck, bus, pickup and passenger tires because of higher raw materials costs and persistently high fuel prices.

The national average price of retail diesel fell 11.5 cents to $4.603 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

The Environmental Protection Agency postponed until early August its decision on whether to grant a request from Texas to cut the national renewable fuels mandate in half, citing the huge number of comments EPA has received on the issue, which has pitted livestock growers against grain producers.