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Despite the current economic climate, the nation’s freight pool is likely to grow 26% over the next 11 years, meaning the long-term outlook for all haulers is bright, according to a new American Trucking Associations report.

President Obama signed legislation last week that killed the Transportation Department’s controversial test of longhaul cross-border trucking with Mexico, but the administration signaled it was open to resurrecting a program in the future.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate last week formally introduced the Employee Free Choice Act, the first shot in what is expected to be a fierce battle between organized labor and the business community, including American Trucking Associations.

The new chairman of the Technology & Maintenance Council, Steph Sabo, said that during his term, his top priority will be reaching out to segments of the trucking industry that aren’t familiar with the group in hopes of signing up new members.

For the third time in five years, a coalition of interest groups has asked a federal court to overturn the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rule governing the length of time truckers can drive and work.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week took the first step toward creating a national cap-and-trade system, proposing a new rule that would establish a federal system for reporting carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases produced by large stationary and mobile sources.

In its continued attack on greenhouse gas emissions, the California Air Resources Board recently proposed a rule cutting the “carbon intensity” of transportation fuels.

Canada-based transportation firm Trimac Income Fund said its fourth-quarter profit rose to C$3 million, or 11 cents per unit, from C$2.2 million, or 9 cents, a year ago.

Hispanics have responded to the need of U.S. carriers for longhaul truck drivers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that in 2007, 23% of the estimated 1.6 million tractor-trailer drivers in the United States were Hispanic.