The Nation

WASHINGTON  — Amid the escalating war in Ukraine, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she supports banning Russian oil imports to the U.S., a hefty nod that could strengthen President Joe Biden’s hand as global allies seek to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime. However, such a move could mean even higher gasoline and diesel prices. According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of diesel is up to $4.25 per gallon, with prices as high as $5 or above in California. That’s up from $4.11 per gallon on Thursday, according to AAA. Biden has been reluctant to curb Russian oil shipments to the U.S. or slap on energy sanctions in ways that would reduce supply as gas prices at the pump are already climbing for Americans. But Pelosi’s support gives fresh currency for an idea in Congress already backed by wide swaths of Republicans and an increasing number of Democrats. The White House has said all tools remain on the table. “I’m all for that,” Pelosi said about ending Russian oil in the U.S. “Ban it.” Finding common ground to counter Russian aggression toward Ukraine through energy policy would be a breakthrough for the divided Congress, which has shown remarkable resolve in unifying U.S. support for Ukrainians but has struggled over concrete steps that would help the Western-style democracy battle the Russian invasion. A Russian oil ban could draw momentary alliance of lawmakers on the left and right — Democrats fighting climate change who want to lessen the U.S. reliance on fossil fuels; Republicans who want to boost U.S. energy production at home; and the great majority of lawmakers of both parties who want to stop Putin’s war. Republicans have been pushing for the Russian oil ban, joined by some Democrats eager to punish Putin. “What if we crush the oil and gas sector of the Russian economy?” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “That would be a lethal combination for the Russian economy.” Sen. Ed Markey, a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts and a leading advocate of climate change strategies, also backs an import ban. “We cannot criticize Europe for its reliance on Russian energy as we pour dirty oil money into Russia,” he said Still, Biden has resisted, fearing a ban could further disrupt global markets and raise already high prices at the pump. He also risks backlash from climate change activists who say U.S. officials must not use the Ukraine war to expand oil or gas drilling in the U.S., a step Republicans have been urging. Gas prices in the U.S. averaged nearly $3.73 a gallon Thursday, up almost $1 from a year ago, according to AAA motor club. For now, the White House has said all options remain on the table. “We don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The remarks from the White House were widely criticized as misguided by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, at a press conference Thursday introducing a bipartisan bill to halt Russian oil imports to the U.S. The legislation would halt Russian oil imports in the U.S. by declaring a national emergency, something Biden could also do on his own. It gained bipartisan support, including from leadership of the House Problem Solvers Caucus. “There is a moral obligation here: I don’t want us dollars to be funding this, this carnage in Ukraine led by Putin,” Murkowski said. Murkowski said she understood Biden won the White House in part on his promise to fight climate change, but she said after the Russian war in Ukraine, “We are in a different place.” Russian oil and gas exports have loomed over national security policy in the U.S. and its Western allies. The energy sector is vital to the Russian economy and the industry is a political force that leaves countries reliant on Putin’s regime. Oil prices globally spiked with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, shaking markets. The U.S. imported a small but notable amount of oil from Russia — some 7 % of all imports of crude oil and petroleum products. Some US industry groups say it’s even less. In 2021, the U.S. brought in roughly 245 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia — a one-year increase of 24%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Pelosi said she doesn’t want to see rising gas prices at the pump for Americans, and outlined steps Congress and the administration are taking to avoid spikes. Biden announced on Tuesday that he is releasing 30 million barrels of oil from U.S. strategic reserves, part of a global effort to ease oil supplies amid the Ukraine war, and some Democrats have been pushing a temporary holiday from the federal gas tax to ease costs to consumers. The White House has not endorsed the gas tax holiday or ruled it out. The Trucker staff contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg acknowledged on Wednesday during a hearing of the Environment and Public Works Senate Committee that a lack of safe truck parking is a serious issue that must be addressed. “If you talk with any truck driver, it’s not only an issue of convenience, it’s an issue of safety,” Buttigieg said. “And, I might add, with the idling that goes on, it’s even an issue of emissions.” At that same hearing, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said she saw firsthand how bad the truck parking issue is during a recent trip along Interstate 80 after a winter storm in her home state. Trucks “were idling for miles during the hours that it took to reopen Interstate 80,” she said. Buttigieg went on to say that he was “very concerned” about the issue and thanked Lummis for bringing it to the forefront. Buttigieg mentioned several programs that states could use to secure funding for truck parking. Among them: The Surface Transportation Block Grant Program; the National Highway Freight Program; the Highway Safety Improvement Program; the National Highway Performance Program; and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program. Hope Rivenburg — whose husband, Jason, a truck driver, was robbed, then murdered while parked in what turned out to be an unsafe location — has worked to highlight commercial truck parking needs and to enact federal legislation that would improve parking conditions. The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century legislation, dubbed “Jason’s Law” after Jason Rivenburg, was established to provide a “national priority on addressing the shortage of long-term parking for commercial motor vehicles on the National Highway System (NHS) to improve the safety of motorized and non-motorized users and for commercial motor vehicle operators. Specifically, Jason’s Law requires DOT to conduct a survey and comparative assessment in consultation with relevant State motor carrier representatives to: Evaluate the capability of each state to provide adequate parking and rest facilities for commercial motor vehicles engaged in interstate transportation; Assess the volume of commercial motor vehicle traffic in each state; and Develop a system of metrics to measure the adequacy of commercial motor vehicle parking facilities in each state. The 2019 Jason’s Law Report found that 98% of truck drivers regularly experience problems finding safe parking. That’s a 23% increase from the 2015 report. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and American Trucking Associations (ATA) point out that there are about 3.5 million truck drivers and only 313,000 truck parking spaces nationally. Both groups recently sent a letter to Buttigieg urging Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds be prioritized to boost the nation’s truck parking capacity. The groups say the nationwide shortage of available parking has plagued America’s truck drivers for decades, with a wide range of consequences for highway safety, driver health and well-being, supply-chain efficiency and the environment. “The lack of available truck parking has dire safety implications for truck drivers as well as the motoring public,” the joint letter states. “Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) hours-of-service (HOS) regulations require drivers to take a 30-minute break when they have driven for a period of eight cumulative hours without at least a 30-minute interruption, and a 10-hour break after 14 hours of driving.” The letter continues: “When drivers are unable to find safe, authorized parking, they are stuck in a no-win situation, forced to either park in unsafe or illegal locations, or violate federal HOS regulations by continuing to search for safer, legal alternatives.” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said that “Washington needs to listen to our nation’s truck drivers and respect their most serious needs. They are the heartbeat of our economy and directly support the frontlines in the fight against COVID — a battle that will only be won with the help of the trucking industry.” Spear said that “year after year, surveys show the severe lack of truck parking ranks amongst drivers’ top concerns. More than 98% percent of drivers report problems finding safe parking, burning more than 56 minutes of available drive-time every day to find it. That wasted time amounts to a $5,500 loss in annual compensation — or a 12% pay cut.” In addition to adding stress to an already strained supply chain, this also presents a safety hazard for all drivers, both commercial and private, he said. “Given the historic levels of funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, we ask that DOT prioritize this urgent need for America’s truckers,” Spear said. In their joint letter, OOIDA and ATA wrote that 70% of drivers have been forced to violate federal HOS rules because of this common scenario. As a last resort, drivers reluctantly park in unsafe locations — such as highway shoulders, interstate entry and exit ramps and abandoned properties — creating heightened safety risks for all motorists, according to the letter. “Importantly, 84% of drivers feel unsafe when parked in unauthorized areas,” the letter states. “This dilemma puts law enforcement in a difficult position; enforcement officials can either force truck drivers to relocate, placing them in violation of HOS rules and taking a risk that the drivers are not too fatigued to drive, or they can allow the drivers to remain parked illegally. The bottom line is that safety is compromised when truck parking is not readily available.” On the road, truck drivers like Sammy Jenkins of Wyoming say they are tired of circling truck stop lots that are filled to the brim with hundreds of road-weary truckers. “There just needs to be something done about this now,” Jenkins said. “The government can give out all this money for other things, why can’t they just build some parking lots for us?” The OOIDA and ATA letter to Buttigieg concludes with one final plea. “If the DOT prioritizes the expansion of truck parking capacity and makes significant progress toward that effort, drivers will be safer and healthier, fleets will be more productive, the trucking workforce will be more resilient, and trucks will reduce their fuel needs and emit fewer emissions into the environment.” the letter states. “All of these benefits would be passed on to the average American in the form of lower prices, greater availability of goods and a cleaner planet. We stand ready to assist in any way we can.”    

SUPERIOR, Wis. — President Joe Biden on Wednesday used an aging bridge spanning a corner of iced-over Lake Superior to promote billions of dollars that will flow to communities across the U.S. in coming years to fix roads, bridges and other infrastructure, a day after highlighting the spending in his State of the Union address. Biden is trying to regain his political footing by rallying support for his domestic agenda even as he confronts the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When he stepped out of his motorcade with first lady Jill Biden, they shook hands with workers in hard hats and neon vests. The John A. Blatnik Memorial Bridge, which connects Wisconsin and Minnesota, is too old to support large trucks, undermining its ability to serve as an economic lifeline in the region. Wisconsin is also a crucial political battleground that helped secure Biden’s presidential victory. Vice President Kamala Harris and other top Biden administration officials also fanned out across the country as part of the customary post-State of the Union blitz, with each calibrated for maximum political impact as Democrats try to build momentum ahead of November’s midterm elections. Harris was in North Carolina, a swing state that remained out of reach for Democrats in the last election, to visit an apprentice training program for union electrical workers. She was joined by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, one of several Cabinet officials who were traveling on Wednesday. One of the most notable trips was made by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who rarely makes appearances with political undertones. She touched down in Chicago, where she was expected to speak at the University of Illinois’ campus in the city. Biden’s proposals to expand educational opportunities, enact financial incentives for fighting climate change and limit the cost of prescription drugs failed to advance in Congress last year. Although many of his goals remain the same this year, Biden appears to be rebranding his initiatives. He didn’t use the phrase “Build Back Better,” the name of his stalled legislation, in his State of the Union address, and the White House said Biden would be talking about “Building a Better America” on Wednesday. He’s also looking to salvage his sagging approval ratings and lift Democrats’ spirits as they try to limit their losses in November, when Republicans are poised to retake control of Congress. The White House has said that Biden plans to spend more time traveling this year to promote his administration’s plans. “He’s got to take his message above and beyond the national press, and the chattering class of the northeastern corridor,” said Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster. “He’s got to hit the local television networks, he’s got to get into the local paper.” Belcher encouraged Biden to take a page from President Ronald Reagan, who promised “morning in America,” at a time when polls show voters are pessimistic about the future. “He’s got to be cheerleader in chief,” he said. “He’s got to make Americans feel better.”    

EDGEWATER, Fla. — Troopers say at least three people were killed Thursday in crashes involving several 18-wheelers and passenger vehicles on Interstate 95 in Florida where a combination of fog and smoke made visibility very low. It wasn’t immediately clear if the dead included truck drivers, although several images from the crash scenes show large explosions surrounding at least two big rigs. The crashes began around 1:30 a.m. Thursday south of Daytona Beach. Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kim Montes says there were four crashes on the northbound side and one heading southbound. She told The Associated Press that “fog and smoke were in the area at the time.” News outlets also reported that fog mixed with smoke lingering from a prescribed burn in the area. Two of the dead were traveling south, while the other person died in a northbound crash. A child who was airlifted to an Orlando hospital.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington State Patrol (WSP) on Wednesday posted a Facebook remembrance of the late James S. Gain, a WSP trooper who was struck and killed by an 18-wheeler while conducting a traffic stop in 1987 north of Vancouver, Washington. Gain joined the 41st Trooper Cadet Class and was commissioned on Feb. 9, 1968, assigned to Tacoma, Washington. He died on March 2, 1987, at the age of 42 after the semi struck him along Interstate 5, seven miles north of Vancouver. At the time of his death, Gain had served 19 years with the Washington State Patrol. The Washington State Legislature passed Senate Resolution 1987-8620 honoring Gain for his sacrifice. He was also posthumously awarded the Washington Law Enforcement Medal of Honor in May 1997. On March 6, 2009, a memorial was unveiled at the southbound Gee Creek rest area on I-5 at mile post 11, to honor and remember Gain.  

TIFTON, Ga. – A Georgia community’s police department set off a social media firestorm recently by reminding people that it is illegal to park semi-trucks in residential areas there. The Tifton, Georgia, Police Department, in a Feb. 27 Facebook post, quoted City Code Section 78-33, which states that big rigs are prohibited from being parked in residential yards temporarily or overnight and must travel within designated areas. “No truck or trailer shall be parked off the designated truck routes or left overnight,” according to the code. The post has received nearly 400 comments, most of them accusing the community of being anti-trucking. “Sounds like the town of Tifton needs to do without anything brought by truck for a while until they back off this stupid crap,” Facebook user Pearlie Acker-Alsept commented. User Alicia Nolton wrote: “Are you friggen kidding me!? Leave the driver alone parking on their own property! Sometimes drivers only get 10 hours at home in between rubs and you’re gonna harass them for parking in their own driveway!? Your entire system is jacked up!” “Nothing but an inconvenience to hard working truck drivers and their families,” user Joy Alyson Woods Brinson wrote. “Great way to show respect for the ones who deliver most of the goods people need and want. Just another reason for people to keep moving out of city limits and into the county.” While the law isn’t new, the police department told a local television news station that they have received multiple complaints about truckers who were violating the code. Fines are “not to exceed $1,000.00 and imprisonment in the city or county jail not exceeding 180 days, or both a fine and sentence of imprisonment and labor; and all sentences may be in the alternative and fines may be imposed with the alternative of sentence to imprisonment and labor if the fines are not paid,” according to city code.

OTAY MESA, Calif. and ROMA, Texas – The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has made two recent major drug busts involving semi-trucks. On Feb. 20, CBP officers at the Otay Mesa, California, commercial facility discovered around 1,200 small packages of meth hidden in a shipment of onions. And on Feb. 24, CBP officers at the Roma, Texas, Port of Entry seized $2.5 million in cocaine that was concealed inside a tractor-trailer. Roma bust According to a CBP news release, CBP officers assigned to the Roma International Bridge cargo facility flagged a commercial tractor-trailer inbound from Mexico for further inspection. Agents said that after conducting a thorough search that included a canine unit, they seized packages containing 329.37 pounds of alleged cocaine concealed within the trailer. The narcotics and truck driver, who wasn’t named, were handed over to Roma Police Department for further investigation. Otay Mesa bust At approximately 1 p.m. on Feb. 20, CBP officers flagged the 46-year-old driver of a tractor-trailer filled with onions for further inspection. During the exam, a CBP canine team screened the truck and trailer, and the detector dog alerted to something suspicious within the shipment, according to the CBP news release. CBP officers searched the shipment and discovered 1,197 packages of methamphetamine mixed with the onions in sacks. The packages of methamphetamine were shaped into small globes with a white covering, designed to blend into the onions, the news release stated. CBP officers extracted approximately 1,336 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated street value of about $2.9 million. “This was not only a clever attempt to try and smuggle in narcotics, one I haven’t seen before, but also time consuming to wrap narcotics into these small packages, designed to look like onions,” said Sidney Aki, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego. “These efforts show how effective our officers are, and as a response, the lengths drug trafficking organizations are willing to go to as they try to smuggle narcotics into the U.S.  While we have certainly seen narcotics in produce before, it’s unusual for us to see this level of detail in the concealment.” The driver, who wasn’t named, was arrested for the alleged narcotic smuggling attempt. CBP officers turned the driver, a Mexican citizen, over to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) for further disposition. CBP officers seized the tractor, trailer and narcotics.    

WASHINGTON — The federal government has a fresh warning to states seeking billions of dollars from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law to widen roads: Protect the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists or risk losing funds. In a new report submitted to Congress and obtained by The Associated Press, the Department of Transportation says it will aim to prioritize the safety and health of the multiple users of a typical 21st century roadway, from riders of public transit and electric scooters to Uber rideshare pickups and people delivering goods. Projects such as bike paths and traffic roundabouts, enhanced sidewalks, pedestrian pathways to bus stops and transit lanes will be favored in the distribution of funds. In doing so, the department led by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg seeks to change a longtime focus by the states to direct federal money toward adding lanes to relieve congestion and speed car flow — often at the expense of mostly nonwhite communities living next to the busy roadways. “Safety is consistently DOT’s top priority,” according to the report, which was written in response to a request by the House a year ago to address record-high spikes in U.S. roadway deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report said the Federal Highway Administration’s adoption of the “Complete Streets” strategy, which is already followed by hundreds of communities, will “have a positive impact on the safety of all roadway users — reversing the trend of increasing fatal and serious injuries and creating a healthier, greener, and more equitable surface transportation system.” Approximately one-third of U.S. traffic fatalities are people who are outside of vehicles, such as motorcyclists and pedestrians. “A Complete Street is safe, and feels safe, for everyone using the street,” said Stephanie Pollack, the deputy head of the highway administration. “We can’t keep people safe on our roads if we don’t have safer roads and roads that slow down drivers to safe speeds. Through our Complete Streets initiative, FHWA will play a leadership role in providing an equitable and safe transportation network for travelers of all ages and abilities, including vulnerable road users and those from underserved communities that have faced historic disinvestment.” The groundbreaking shift promises a boost to cities from Atlanta and Austin, Texas, to Nashville, Tennessee, that have strained to raise money to build out green-friendly transit options, reduce fatalities by slowing traffic and stitch together communities racially divided by highways after states balked in providing funds for that purpose. In 2020, the latest data available, U.S. traffic fatalities for Black people jumped 23% compared with 7% overall. Lower-income Black residents are more likely to live next to pedestrian crash hotspots, according to the report, and during the pandemic were disproportionately represented among essential workers who continued to travel to work, often on public transit. Still, the effort could add to tensions with Republican-led states and governors who bristle at the notion of giving up wide leeway to pick their road projects, with some casting the bipartisan law as a vehicle for Biden’s liberal causes. Others worry that rural areas could lose in the process. “Americans expect new roads and real infrastructure needs to be addressed — not a vehicle for the administration’s woke agenda,” said Missouri Rep. Sam Graves, the top Republican on the House transportation committee. In a letter to governors last month, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., one of 19 Republicans who voted in the 50-50 Senate to approve the infrastructure bill, criticized a December memo by the highway administration that urged states to use new funding to maintain and improve highways before adding lanes. McConnell and Capito said states should continue spending formula funding as they see fit to meet local needs. “The law addresses infrastructure issues in a manner that reflects bipartisan input and consensus and avoids burdensome, prescriptive requirements,” they wrote. “Nothing in the (law) provides FHWA with the authority to dictate how states should use their federal formula funding, nor prioritizes public transit or bike paths over new roads and bridges.” While the report to Congress does not have the force of law, the department points to potential legal authority under federal statutes to refocus money for up to 70% of the nation’s highways and does not rule out stronger efforts to push states into compliance. The department said Wednesday that many cities’ proposed “cap and stitch” plans to build green spaces atop underground highways would likely be eligible for different pots of federal money. Buttigieg has cited a need to rectify a history of racist design in roadways. The department’s report acknowledges challenges to ensuring that states build in roadway safety features, noting that data measuring their effectiveness on protecting non-motorists is limited. It pledged stronger oversight overall in its distribution of federal money. Pollack, a hands-on manager who formerly led Massachusetts’ transportation agency under a Republican governor, has actively pushed federal roadway design standards. Last year, the FHWA temporarily halted Texas’ proposed expansion of I-45 in Houston over civil rights concerns, a rare assertion of federal power to investigate potential racial impacts. The agency has since lifted portions of that hold as it negotiates a resolution with the state that seeks to limit economic and environmental harm to neighboring lower-income, Black and Latino communities.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden made his plan on electric vehicles sound more advanced than it is and inflated the sweep of his infrastructure package. On several fronts, he presented ambitions as achievements. A look at some of his claims Tuesday night and a glance: ECONOMY BIDEN, promoting his $1 trillion infrastructure law: “We’re done talking about infrastructure weeks. We’re now talking about an infrastructure decade. … We’ll build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.” THE FACTS: Not so fast. The bipartisan legislation approved by Congress ended up providing just half of the $15 billion that Biden had envisioned to fulfill a campaign promise of 500,000 charging stations by 2030. Biden’s Build Back Better proposal aimed to fill the gap by adding back billions to pay for charging stations. But Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in December declared that bill dead in its present form due to cost. Administration officials now say the infrastructure law will help “pave” the way for up to 500,000 charging outlets by 2030. That’s different than charging stations, which could have several outlets. They say private investments could help fill the gap. Currently there are over 100,000 EV outlets in the U.S. The Transportation Department’s plan asks states to build a nationwide network of EV charging stations that would place new or upgraded ones every 50 miles along interstate highways. The $5 billion in federal money over five years relies on cooperation from sprawling rural communities in the U.S., which are less likely to own EVs due to their typically higher price. States are expected to start construction as early as fall. BIDEN: “The pandemic also disrupted the global supply chain … Look at cars last year. One third of all the inflation was because of automobile sales. There weren’t enough semiconductors to make all the cars that people wanted to buy. And guess what? Prices of automobiles went way up … And so we have a choice. One way to fight inflation is to drag down wages and make Americans poorer. I think I have a better idea to fight inflation. Lower your costs and not your wages. Folks, that means make more cars and semi conductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America. More goods moving faster and cheaper in America … Instead of relying on foreign supply chains let’s make it in America.” THE FACTS: It’s dubious to suggest that more domestic manufacturing means less inflation. Manufactured products made overseas, particularly in countries such as China or Mexico where wages are lower, are generally cheaper than U.S.-made goods. Biden also places too much weight on supply chain disruptions from overseas as a factor in the worst inflation in four decades. Although those problems indeed have been a major factor in driving up costs, inflation is increasingly showing up in other areas, such as rents and restaurant meals, that reflect the rapid growth of the economy and wages in the past year and not a global supply bottleneck. Those trends are likely to keep pushing up prices even as supply chains recover. INFRASTRUCTURE LAW BIDEN on the infrastructure bill: “The single biggest investment in history was a bipartisan effort.” THE FACTS: No, it wasn’t that historic. Biden’s infrastructure bill was big, adding $550 billion in fresh spending on roads, bridges, and broadband Internet over five years. But measured as a proportion of the U.S. economy, it is slightly below the 1.36% of the nation’s gross domestic product that was spent on infrastructure, on average, during the first four years of the New Deal, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution. It is even further below the roughly 2% spent on infrastructure in the late 1970s and early 1980s.    

ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Trucking Associations (ATA) has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) establishing ATA as an official registered apprenticeship sponsor. The registered apprenticeships, which are connected to a myriad of industries, including the trucking industry, are designed to provide 90 days of paid, on-the-job training in an effort to bolster the nation’s economy, according to the Biden administration. According to the DOL, 300 employers, industry and workforce groups have joined the apprenticeship program since its December launch. Tuesday’s signing ceremony between the DOL and ATA took place at DOL headquarters in Washington. In attendance were Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, ATA President and CEO Chris Spear and ATA Chairman Harold Sumerford Jr., who is also CEO of J&M Tank Lines. “Drivers throughout the country have spoken with me about the rewards and the challenges of this career, and it’s clear we need to do more to build and support the trucking workforce,” Buttigieg said. “The Biden-Harris administration is working with the trucking industry and drivers to quickly launch registered apprenticeship programs that provide high-quality paid job training, reduce debt for drivers and increase the number of drivers who stay in the job.” Trucking industry representatives attending the event included Yellow Corp. CEO Darren Hawkins and professional truck driver Alphonso Lewis, an America’s Road Team Captain and driver for YRC Freight. “Today is a great day for our association and one we have been working toward for some time,” Spear said. “This partnership puts us in a stronger position to help guide our members and millions of Americans as they pursue rewarding careers in our industry as commercial drivers, and we hope to build on this agreement for technicians and other trucking industry work forces. We want to thank secretaries Walsh and Buttigieg for working with us to widen this essential, lucrative and vital career path.” As a DOL-recognized sponsor at the national level, ATA can now provide its member-companies the ability to offer apprenticeships to job applicants while ATA and its partner FASTPORT — a DOL intermediary specializing in transportation and logistics —administers the program for the participating companies. “(The trucking) industry is now short more than 80,000 drivers needed to meet the economy’s current freight demands,” an ATA news release stated. “Diesel technicians are also in high demand and short supply. Apprenticeships can help fill that gap by combining paid, on-the-job training with instruction to prepare new drivers and technicians for these high-skill careers.” The ATA said that the apprenticeships will also enable motor carriers to better highlight the benefits of a career in trucking through the workforce development system nationally, including expanded outreach and training support, as well as expanded support services for prospective drivers. “This is truly an earn-while-you-learn program,” Spear said. “But it’s more than just a paycheck for apprentices: by participating in a registered program, they are eligible for things like childcare, housing allowances, and other support as they start down this new career path.” Under the apprenticeship program, ATA members will need to meet certain training and compensation standards as they bring in new drivers for a two-year apprenticeship program that will provide graduated wages as drivers develop and expand their skills. “Cultivating the next generation of trucking talent is of the utmost importance for our industry and the entire economy,” Sumerford said. “This historic agreement formalizes the kind of commitment that motor carriers have always made to their drivers in terms of great pay and benefits, along with high-quality on the job training. With the added power of these apprenticeships, we can accelerate those efforts and help make our long-term hiring goals a reality.” For more on federally recognized apprenticeships, visit www.apprenticeship.gov.          

FRANKFURT, Germany — The International Energy Agency’s 31 member countries agreed Tuesday to release 60 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves — half of that from the United States — “to send a strong message to oil markets” that supplies won’t fall short after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Still, prices for gasoline and diesel continue to rise in the United States. The board of the Paris-based IEA made the decision at an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers chaired by U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. She said in a statement that U.S. President Joe Biden approved a commitment of 30 million barrels and that the U.S. is ready to “take additional measures” if needed. The group’s “decision reflects our common commitment to address significant market and supply disruptions related to President Putin’s war on Ukraine,” Granholm said. Russia plays an outsized role in global energy markets as the third-largest oil producer. Its exports of 5 million barrels of crude per day amount to about 12% of the global oil trade. Some 60% goes to Europe and another 20% to China. So far, U.S. and European sanctions have not barred oil or gas exports and have included exceptions for transactions to pay for oil and gas. Western leaders are reluctant to restrict Russian oil exports at a time when global energy markets are tight and high prices are fueling inflation in developed economies. But the invasion has still shaken markets worldwide. On Tuesday, oil prices soared, with U.S. benchmark crude surpassing $106 per barrel — the highest price since 2014. “The situation in energy markets is very serious and demands our full attention,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said. “Global energy security is under threat, putting the world economy at risk during a fragile stage of the recovery. Last month, the IEA said global demand for oil was 100.2 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter of 2021. Demand is expected to grow to an average of 100.6 million barrels a day this year, as restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19 are eased, the IEA said. Besides the United States, other members of the organization include Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada. IEA members hold emergency stockpiles of 1.5 billion barrels of oil. The release amounts to 4% of stockpiles, or roughly 2 million barrels per day for 30 days. It’s only the fourth time in history that the IEA has done a coordinated drawdown since the reserves were established in the wake of the Arab oil embargo in 1974. From the U.S. perspective, the price of crude oil determines a big portion of what drivers pay to fill up their cars with gasoline. The national average for a gallon of gas is $3.61, which is 26 cents more than a month ago and 90 cents more than a year ago, according to motor club federation AAA. In 2021, the U.S. imported roughly 245 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia — a one-year increase of 24% over 2020. Nearly 8% of U.S. imports of crude oil and petroleum products that year came from Russia, based on data from the statistical arm of the U.S. Energy Department. In November, Biden announced a release of 50 million barrels of oil in coordination with other energy-importing countries, but the measure had only a fleeting impact on oil prices, which have continued to rise. Stewart Glickman, an oil analyst for CFRA Research, said the latest release from the SPR would only be partially helpful, because most of the reserves are light oil, while the U.S. largely imports a heavier grade of oil from Russia. “Refiners plan around a certain blend of crudes, so you can’t always just swap out one for another easily,” he said. Granholm stressed the need to invest in renewable energy as a way to reduce dependence on Russian oil and natural gas. To that end, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia called on Biden and the oil industry to take immediate action “up to and including banning crude oil imports from Russia.” “If there was ever a time to be energy independent, it is now,” said Manchin, who supports fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas that are his crucial to his energy-producing state.