U.S Truckers protest 'outrageous' diesel prices

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Truckers protest 'outrageous' diesel prices Texas convoy heading toward Los Angeles in 'slow-moving lane'

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By Jon E. Dougherty ) 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

A growing convoy of trucks, currently numbering about 150, is attempting to draw attention to the escalating price of diesel fuel and how those costs are hurting small, independent truckers, according to the Texas driver who initiated the demonstration in the hopes that lawmakers will do more to lower fuel prices.

"We're protesting outrageous prices on diesel fuel and the inability to charge rates high enough to pay for that fuel," said protest organizer Micah Lee. "People can't expect trucks to run at a loss for very long, because the economy depends on trucks to deliver cargo. This seems a nice, safe way to point out our problem without deliberately causing any harm. We're hurting out here."

Lee said the protest -- aimed primarily at small, independent drivers -- involves the formation of a convoy of tractor-trailer rigs to occupy the "slow-moving lane" of the Interstate I-20 in Texas. Driving at speeds of 45-50 miles per hour, Lee said as the convoy grew it would become more noticeable and hopefully begin to garner some attention from Washington, D.C.

The Texas Department of Transportation numbered the rigs at approximately 150 as of yesterday, when drivers reached Ft. Worth. The aim, say participants, is to take the convoy eventually all the way to Los Angeles.

Some drivers that had originally joined in the convoy had dropped out, Lee said, because they could no longer afford to drive their rigs empty. Every mile a truck is on the road without a load is a mile that costs drivers money, he noted.

The convoy was scheduled to pull into El Paso by Wednesday night, Lee said, "at 50 miles per hour."

"We are trying to act like professionals," Lee said, "but fuel prices have gone up 70 percent since March."

"[We] don't want the elderly to suffer without prescription medications or the goods that they need," he said, but without "involvement from the Feds," truckers could not look forward to stable prices in the near term.

Lee said truckers have asked Americans to call their congressmen "and ask them to push for a suspension of the fuel tax, at least until the end of the year." He asked that if persons were willing to call, that they be polite but "do it before the election."

If nothing is done, Lee said he would consider taking a convoy to Washington, D.C., in October to press the truckers' case.

"Today's fuel prices for diesel is the straw that broke the camel's back," Lee said. "Multimillion dollar carriers have given no [hauling rate] increase in 10-12 years."

A leading trucking industry analyst said that in part, based on higher fuel prices, trucking traffic will decrease this year, but increase 3 percent to 3.5 percent a year between 2002-2005.

Peter Toja, president of Economic Planning Associates, said the growth will come from "further expansion of the [United States] economy, rapid growth in NAFTA trade and annual increases in total merchandise trade with the rest of the world."

Toja expected truck traffic to increase by just 2 percent in 2001 -- a figure that could be stunted if diesel fuel prices don't come down, other analysts said.

As of Monday, the national diesel fuel average price was $1.65 per gallon. A year ago it was $1.22; on Aug. 21 the price averaged $1.47, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which said those prices included fuel taxes.

Meanwhile, trucker protests have rocked Europe for two weeks.

Europe was again plagued by protest blockades of fuel supplies and ports yesterday as the region's leaders squabbled with each other over price-relief measures and France called for talks between oil-consuming nations and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to ease prices.

"Although the previous week's crippling trucker blockades of British fuel depots ended under a temporary truce and protests in Germany ebbed, last week saw a new round of price increases in world oil markets and fresh protests in Ireland, Spain, Israel and elsewhere," wrote John D. Boyd, news editor of Transport Topics.

As of July 31, 1999, there were more than 9.48 million commercial drivers licenses registered in the United States, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_dougherty/20000928_xnjdo_truckers_p.shtml



-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 28, 2000


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