Fuel

Federal regulators rejected a plea from several states to waive the requirement for gasoline producers to blend ethanol into their fuel, saying the economic conditions necessary for such a waiver did not exist.

The national average price of diesel fuel slid four-tenths of a cent to $3.976 a gallon, the fifth straight weekly decline in the cost of trucking’s main fuel, the Department of Energy reported last week.

Following is an ATA Summit on Natural Gas in Trucking agenda: Wednesday Registration kicks off from 4 - 7 p.m. and ATA’s welcome reception is from 5:30 - 7 p.m.. Thursday Continental breakfast 7:30 - 8:15 a.m,, with ATA Chairman Michael Card’s opening remarks from 8:15 – 8:30 a.m. Session I: Natural Gas 101: A Primer, 8:30– 9 a.m., will be followed by Session II: Fueling the Nation’s Energy Needs, 9 – 10 a.m. Session III: Infrastructure Hurdles, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., will be followed by lunch. Session IV, The Transformation of America’s Energy Future, featuring Andrew Littlefair, CEO, Clean Energy, and  T. Boone Pickens, Chairman, BP Capital Management, 12:30 – 1:15 p.m.

Gasoline declined 7 cents in the past two weeks to $3.47 a gallon, continuing its recent downward trend, according to the latest Lundberg survey of filling stations released Sunday.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said it will purchase two liquefied natural gas plants from General Electric Co. as part of a new partnership between the two companies to develop LNG fueling infrastructure for the trucking industry, the firms announced last week.

The average price for a gallon of retail diesel declined for the fourth straight week, dipping 3 cents to $3.98, which put trucking’s main fuel below the $4 mark for the first time in three months, the Department of Energy reported.

The price of diesel fuel in the United States declined for the third straight week, dipping 2 cents to $4.01 per gallon, the lowest level in almost three months, the Department of Energy reported last week.