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Staggeringly high prices for fuel are with us again. The last time fuel prices were hovering in the neighborhood of $3.80 to $4.40 per gallon, many trucking companies fought back aggressively, using fuel conservation techniques and making sure drivers used the cheapest options available.

The co-chairmen of a bipartisan presidential commission created to find ways to reduce the federal deficit last week called for gradually raising the federal fuel tax by 15 cents a gallon, beginning in 2013.

PHOENIX — American Trucking Associations members approved a policy change that makes it easier for the federation to negotiate with regulators and legislators over carbon-emissions and climate-change measures, even if they could result in fuel price increases.

Federal regulators for the first time in more than 30 years are proposing a redesign of the fuel economy label that consumers see on the window of new passenger vehicles and light trucks.

Federal transportation officials considering fuel-efficiency standards for heavy trucks should concentrate their early regulatory efforts on engines and tractors, not trailers, American Trucking Associations said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has released the proposed 2011 percentage standards for its Renewable Fuel Standard.

While we’re thankful fuel prices have moderated a bit of late, this year’s oil cost spiral apparently has taken a notable toll on the overall economy, raising concerns that the national recovery is being sapped.

WASHINGTON — A week after President Obama announced that the federal government would be crafting the first-ever fuel economy standards for large trucks, observers said it was still unclear exactly what those standards would entail.

More than two dozen transportation advocacy groups have asked the drafters of a Senate energy and climate bill to reconsider their legislation to allocate new revenue from transportation-based motor fuel fees to “activities entirely unrelated to improving the nation’s transportation infrastructure.”

A federal fuel standard for heavy trucks should take into account freight efficiency rather than simply setting a miles-per-gallon standard, as the government does for passenger cars and light trucks, the National Academy of Sciences said last week.