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GOP Senators and Truckers Discuss Fuel Costs
August 16, 2008 Official Board MarketsThe trucking industry met with GOP senators on July 30 in the Upper Senate Park in Washington, D.C. for a press conference to discuss the effect that gas prices have on the cost of transporting goods.
“Several GOP senators drove home their core message that the price of fuel is the number one issue facing regular Americans today, advocating their belief that expanded drilling is the solution,” says David Solan of Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association’s (OOIDA) Washington, D.C., who was in attendance.
A red truck with the slogan, “Find more, use less,” served as the backdrop for speakers.
Barbara Windsor, president and ceo of family-owned Hahn Transportation Inc., New Market, Md., says her company is spending at least 58 percent more on fuel than they did one year ago. “If this continues, by the end of the year, we will expend at least $1 million more on fuel than was budgeted,” she says. “We are a small family business and this is truly critical to our industry.”
Tony Sifford, a trucking veteran with more than 14 years and more than 1.8 million safe driving miles, tells the Republican senators that diesel was selling for $4.71 a gallon when he checked on July 30. During this same time period in 2007, Sifford says diesel was selling for $2.80 a gallon.
“The high cost of diesel is cutting into our already tight margins,” he says. “I have had a number of friends go out of business, and if the price of diesel keeps rising, I know a lot of other drivers that will go out of business as well.”
