WASHINGTON (AP) - With diesel prices at record highs, the trucking
industry's main trade group on Monday urged President Bush to release oil from
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
In a letter to the White House, American Trucking Associations President and
Chief Executive Bill Graves said surging diesel prices, which on Saturday hit
nearly $4.04 a gallon, "will greatly magnify our current economic slowdown and
delay our economic recovery."
The ATA, whose members include United Parcel Service Inc. and Knight
Transportation Inc., last week said the nation's 3.5 million truck drivers are
on pace to spend a record $135 billion on diesel fuel this year, up $22 billion
from 2007. Graves said it now costs drivers more than $1,000 to fill a typical
tractor-trailer.
But Bush already rejected similar release request from some in Congress.
Late last year, the Reserve contained 694 million barrels of oil and has a
capacity of more than 720 million barrels. The White House has repeatedly said
the reserve is to be used only to counter a severe disruption in supply, not in
reaction to prices.
Diesel fuel dipped nearly a penny overnight to about $4.03 a gallon Monday,
according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Meanwhile, light, sweet
crude for May delivery fell 98 cents to settle at $100.86 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange.
Trucks haul 70 percent of all freight and rising fuel costs could raise the
cost of their cargo, including food, retail and manufactured goods, according to
the ATA.
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