Fuel

The U.S. military, which is the country’s largest single consumer, is engaged in an aggressive plan of alternative fuels development and testing, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The article concerning increasingly complex diesel engines theoretically can be translated directly into increased revenue for dealership maintenance shops, but there are a lot of “ifs” and “buts” surrounding these statements.

Oil prices rose to a new record high Tuesday, moving past $129 a barrel for the first time in intraday trading, the Associated Press reported.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson backed letting California set auto emissions rules stricter than federal standards before consulting with the White House, according to a congressional panel, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Retail fuel prices skyrocketed again last week, with diesel jumping 18.2 cents a gallon to a national average of $4.331, the biggest one-week increase since October 2005 and more than 15 cents more than the last record.

The worldwide spike in diesel prices is being driven in part by China’s stockpiling of the fuel in advance of this summer Olympics, which it is hosting, and the United States is exporting more diesel to the world market, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

UPS Inc. last week announced a major increase in its investment in alternative-fuel vehicles, saying it has ordered 200 diesel-electric hybrid delivery vans and 300 vans powered by compressed natural gas.

With the fate of a proposal to toll Interstate 80 still up in the air, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said his administration was close to finishing a plan to privatize the 524-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike, last week taking bids from investors that could provide the state about $12 billion.