Fuel

The Environmental Protection Agency, as proposed, has formally required new heavy trucks to have warning lights that indicate when engine emission controls are malfunctioning or deteriorating, starting in 2010.

WASHINGTON — A national commission studying transportation infrastructure funding is set to recommend that Congress raise fuel taxes now but eventually replace them with levies based on miles traveled.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it is concerned that emissions systems using a copper compound that engine maker Cummins Inc. will use in 2010 models could generate “likely human carcinogen” dioxins, in which case it would “likely not certify” the systems.

The U.S. retail diesel average declined 3.6 cents to $2.291 a gallon last week, the 14th consecutive drop, but analysts warned that fleets’ fuel costs are poised to start rising again.

Isuzu Commercial Truck of America said it will use selective catalytic reduction technology to meet U.S. 2010 nitrous oxide emissions standards.

We have to stop going to California; that’s the bottom line. First, they (the ports) put emission standards on who could go into the ports in the Los Angeles area.

The U.S. diesel average fell a combined 9.5 cents over the final two weeks of 2008 to $2.327 a gallon, ending the year at its lowest level since June 2005, the Department of Energy reported.

As if skyrocketing fuel prices in 2008 were not enough, American trucking companies are now in the midst of the worst recession since the early 1980s.