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Most public less-than-truckload companies’ second-quarter profits fell as fleets were pounded by record diesel prices and flagging economic demand, but some executives said they thought the overall pricing environment had improved, or at least stabilized.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a nearly 600-page request for public comment on whether it should use existing law to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, a decision one trucking official said was a way to further delay any new regulations until after President Bush leaves office.

The U.S. retail diesel average rose 3.7 cents last week to another record, $4.764 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported, while the price of crude oil posted its largest single-day drop in 17 years on July 15.

Despite fuel prices zooming toward the outer edge of our galaxy, ours is a nation of crowded highways and busy people who don’t like trucks getting in their way.

American Trucking Associations asked Congress to implement a comprehensive plan to address the soaring price of diesel fuel and ensures an affordable fuel supply for the nation’s 3.5 million truck drivers.

Cargo ships would have to reduce their emissions under federal legislation approved by Congress, which President Bush is expected to sign into law, the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper reported Wednesday.

California clean-air regulators propose to force all older highway trucks running within state boundaries to be retrofitted first with diesel particulate filters, costing $8,000 to $20,000 and more, and then with equipment that reduces output of nitrogen oxides, in a complicated, staggered schedule in effect from 2010 through 2022.

High fuel prices are dampening demand for diesel and gasoline, and more Americans will stay home this Fourth of July holiday than last year, a truck stop trade group said Thursday.

An executive with Pilot Travel Centers said the number of diesel fuel thefts has soared this year.