The U.S. Department of Transportation Monday issued a new final rule on drug testing for transportation workers that will add tests for more drugs.

Members of a coalition of truckers, chemical manufacturers, and other trade groups are in discussions with U.S. customs officials over a yet-to-be-enforced, controversial requirement that motor carriers and exporters stipulate on electronic manifests the amount of residual chemicals left inside cargo and portable tank containers when returning from deliveries in Canada and Mexico.

Legislation that would ban the transportation of horses in double-decker trailers would cost the nearly 80 contractors who transport livestock to rodeos all over the U.S. more than $4 million in extra operating and equipment costs, according to estimates by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

The introduction of a new bill aimed at giving ports more authority to enact environmental regulations is expanding the battle over the Port of Los Angeles’ controversial employee-only clean trucks plan from the courts to Congress.

A Senate bill that supporters said would make it easier for federal regulators to catch employers who misclassify their employees as independent contractors also would help ensure a “level playing field in the marketplace,” a top official with the Department of Labor told a Senate panel.

Air pollution at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., declined in 2009 for the third consecutive year, and diesel particulate matter has fallen more than 50% since 2005, in part because of the port’s clean truck program, port officials said

A new Department of Transportation study hints that the Obama administration’s ambitious plans to increase heavy truck fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases emissions will likely rely on a combination of existing aerodynamic design technologies and future diesel engine modifications that have barely left the laboratory or are still under development.

Two senators unveiled a long-awaited carbon emissions reductions bill Wednesday that could spur increases in the cost of diesel fuel for motor carriers.

Longhaul heavy tractor-trailers could achieve a fuel economy of more than 10 miles per gallon by 2030 — from today’s approximately 5 mpg to 6.5 mpg range — according to an analysis prepared for Congress by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Brokers attending the 2010 Transportation Intermediaries Association convention and trade show here were warned to beware of financial services firms that allow them to skirt federal requirements that they post a $10,000 surety bond.