Truckers to Talk up Fuel Strategies
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) of Arlington, Va., on April 21 announced that it will host a Fuel Strategies Workshop June 19 to help the trucking industry cope with skyrocketing fuel prices.
While ATA is taking steps at the federal level to reduce fuel prices, this workshop is designed to educate motor carriers about new technologies and operating practices that will help them conserve diesel fuel and implement cutting-edge diesel fuel purchasing strategies.
The one-day seminar, to be held at the Westin Arlington Gateway in Arlington, Va., will provide attendees with practical solutions from industry experts to help conserve fuel, operate more efficiently, and ultimately reduce their fuel bills.
Fleet managers, fuel purchasers, economists, and policy professionals will provide an overview of technologies and techniques to reduce consumption, fuel purchasing strategies, methods of accurately measuring fuel economy, and the costs and benefits of alternative fuels.
Featured speakers include: Guy Caruso, administrator of the Energy Information Administration; Sara Banaszak, senior economist for the American Petroleum Institute; and Steve Graham, vice president of Schneider National Inc. Allen Schaefer, president, Diesel Technology Forum along with Ken Adams, vice president, Jevic Transportation Inc.; Ron Szapacs, maintenance specialist, Air Products & Chemicals Inc.; and Dan Umphress, managing director, Maintenance Solutions FedEx Freight, will participate in a panel discussion.
ATA has urged the federal government to help alleviate trucking companies' hardships by doing the following:
• release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve;
• establish a national diesel fuel standard;
• allow environmentally responsible exploration of oil-rich areas in the United States that are now off limits as well as development of crude resources in oil shale and tar sands in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming;
• work with the 50 state attorneys general to combat any fuel price gouging that might occur;
• continue to fund the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay Transport Partnership Program, which teaches and encourages fuel-saving strategies;
• streamline EPA's regulatory framework for reviewing and processing
applications for additional refinery operations;
• require speed limiters set for 68 mph or lower on all new trucks;
• set a national maximum speed limit of 65 mph;
• suspend the collection of the 12 percent federal excise tax on motor carriers' purchase of auxiliary power units (APUs), which cut the consumption of fuels in idling truck engines;
• require states to grant a weight exemption for APUs; and
• close a federal loophole that provides a tax benefit for the exportation of biodiesel.
ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States.