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Trucking continues to search for irrefutable proof that the worst of the recession is behind us. While that proof has proved elusive, we are seeing some hints that things are improving.

In a vote divided largely along party lines, the House last week narrowly passed an energy bill that calls for the United States to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020 and includes a controversial cap-and-trade provision. The vote sends the measure to the Senate, where it likely faces a tough and long battle.

A leading Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee proposed taxing speculative oil trades to kill two birds with one stone: Boost highway funding and reduce the effect of speculation on fuel prices.

A 3.2% rise in American Trucking Associations’ truck tonnage index during May from weak results in April may indicate that the worst of the recession could be over, even though the index was 11% below year-ago levels, industry experts said.

Navistar Inc. closed its sole heavy-duty truck plant in North America outside Mexico when the union contract expired and said it would reopen the factory in Chatham, Ontario, only if a new agreement was reached that gave it “flexibility” over production and allowed Navistar to run a “much smaller operation.”

In the four months since President Obama signed a more than $770 billion stimulus package, House transportation leaders said states have approved projects that would distribute more than half of the money available for road and bridge projects.

The Environmental Protection Agency last week approved California’s request for a federal waiver, allowing the state to immediately implement restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from new cars and light trucks and reversing a Bush administration decision.

The U.S. heavy-duty fleet truck fleet is aging as carrier executives scrimp to cut costs wherever they can amid the continuing national freight drought.

U.S. retail diesel prices slipped 0.8 cent last week, providing a breather for the trucking industry after seven consecutive weeks of increases that had pushed the average cost to a seven-month high.

With the White House standing in his path and a pair of well-placed senators lining up with the administration, the guessing game in Washington is how long House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar can keep his six-year highway reauthorization bill alive in Congress.