Call issued for Congress to probe record diesel prices

The Trucker News Services

3/20/2008

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Trucking Association said Thursday that it is petitioning the U.S. Congress to investigate "record high diesel fuel prices" that "threaten the cost-effective flow of goods in the United States and the general economy."

The associations' board of directors voted unanimously Wednesday to seek congressional oversight hearings into the causes of diesel prices that reached more than $4 per gallon on Thursday.

Lane Kidd, association president, said Congress should act now to ward off an economic crisis.

"The damage these fuel prices are inflicting on the U.S. economy each day resembles a hurricane sweeping across our nation and that could mean thousands of lost jobs and hundreds of closed businesses," Kidd said in a news release.

The association's board of directors includes senior executives for such public trucking companies as FedEx Freight, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, ABF Freight System, P.A.M. Transportation Services and USA Truck, as well as the transportation divisions of Wal-Mart Stores and Tyson Foods.

The organization has more than 300 corporate members.

The group said it sent e-mails requesting hearings to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and members of Arkansas' Congressional delegation.

"Congress should examine why supplies of diesel are plentiful, consumption is flat, yet the price keeps rising," Kidd said.

The national average price of retail on-highway diesel today skyrocketed to $4.033 per gallon, a new record high.