A top Environmental Protection Agency official said last week the agency will issue in April a new diesel fuel standard for off-road construction, agricultural engines, locomotives and marine engines.

A pair of Republican congressional leaders last week outlined for the White House their proposal to raise fuel taxes by at least 12 cents a gallon over six years for highway improvements that congressional hearings this year showed are essential but cannot be funded at the Highway Trust Fund's current level.

Transportation sector political action committees were major contributors to the 2002 congressional campaigns, doling out $13.5 million, according to an analysis of campaign spending by the Federal Election Commission, the Center for Responsive Politics and American Trucking Associations.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation's proposed reform of rules for commercial drivers' hours of service is on track to go to the White House for its review later this month, DOT officials said last week.

The Bush administration will not propose increasing fuel taxes to fund bridge and highway construction programs in legislation next year to reauthorize surface transportation legislation, but could support allowing fuel taxes to rise with inflation, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said in a recent interview.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta said a new plan to reform federal regulations for commercial drivers' hours of service is likely to be completed in the next few weeks.

WASHINGTON – Joseph M. Clapp, the former Roadway Corp. chairman who last year became the first permanent head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, will retire before January, according to Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.

Annette Sandberg, deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will likely be the next administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, based on comments by Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta in an exclusive interview with Transport Topics.

ORLANDO, Fla. — David McCorkle, fresh from ending his one-year term as chairman of American Trucking Associations, said he will begin his new job chairing the ATA Executive Committee with a push to get ATA and government officials to work more closely together in developing rules for the industry.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Joseph Clapp, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said last week he wants the trucking industry to be more safety conscious and that his first 15 months in office have been “filled with more highs than lows” about what motor carriers have accomplished.