President Bush Praises America's
Truck Drivers
President George W. Bush praised the strong work ethic and professionalism of America's truck drivers in a proclamation for National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW). NTDAW, observed from August 22 through August 28, honors the more than three million professional truck drivers across the country for their hard work in moving the goods and products that make up our national economy. "Your efforts increase efficiency within the industry and help make America
stronger," the President said in the proclamation. He also praised truck drivers for helping to keep the homeland safer. "My administration is working to link truck drivers and other transportation professionals with first responders, law enforcement personnel and the intelligence community so that safety and security situations on our nation's roads can be identified and reported more
quickly," he said.
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9/11 Transportation Security
Problems Aired
The transportation security side of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations were reviewed in hearings by two House Transportation Committee panels on Wednesday, August 25. In the morning, the aviation subcommittee examined problems faced by the U.S. aviation system on September 11, 2001, and in the afternoon the maritime subcommittee took up the commission's port and shipping security suggestions. The witness list included 9/11 commission member John Lehman and Transportation Security Administration head David Stone for the morning session
and Lehman again in the afternoon session with 9/11 commissioner Jamie Gorelick, among others.
ATA is working with DHS to administer the Highway Watch(r) program with a 19.3 million dollar cooperative agreement. This program is actively recruiting 300,000 to 400,000 new Highway Watch(r) participants. Presently, Highway Watch(r) is significantly expanding by updating and upgrading its curriculum, generating more ISAC bulletins, adding operations coordinator activities,
and opening participation to all members of the transportation community.
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Department Of Energy
Administration Will Continue Filling
Strategic Petroleum Reserve
The Bush Administration has no plans to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) even as oil prices headed toward $50 a barrel last week, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). A DOE spokesman said on Monday, August 23, that the President and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham "have both made their position real clear and that is we are going to continue filling the
SPR. It is to be used in response to a severe supply disruption and not to manipulate the market."
The national average price of retail on-highway diesel surged 4.9 cents to a new record high of $1.874 per gallon on Monday, Aug 23. The 4.9-cent jump was the largest weekly gain since February 3, 2003. Cumulatively, the national average has increased by 17.4 cents over the past two months and on that day was 37.1 cents higher compared to the same time last year. The recent drop
in crude oil prices (to $46.05 per barrel on August 23 from a 21-year high of $48.70 a week earlier) was linked to the resumption of Iraq's oil exports. President Bush gave the directive to fill the SPR in November 2001. For more information, contact Tavio Headly at 703-838-1792 or
theadly@trucking.org.
Department Of Transportation
FMCSA To Hold Public Listening Sessions
On Motor Carrier Safety
The Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced plans to conduct a series of public listening sessions to seek input on ways the FMCSA can improve its process of monitoring and assessing the safety of the motor carrier industry and ensure their compliance with federal regulations. FMCSA is calling this effort the
Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 Initiative (CSA-2010). At present, FMCSA is able to conduct compliance reviews on only a small percentage of the 675,000 interstate motor carriers. FMCSA says it is "looking for ways to improve monitoring of motor carriers, to make agency processes more efficient, and to expand its enforcement and compliance reach in the regulated community in
order to improve FMCSA's ability to meet its goal of significantly reducing crashes, fatalities, and injuries involving large trucks and buses." Sessions will be held during September and October in San Diego, CA., Atlanta, GA., Dallas, TX., Chicago, IL., Falls Church, VA., and Springfield, MA.
For dates, times and locations visit http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
ATA supports FMSCA efforts to reach out to the motor carrier industry
and informed members of the general public. We encourage constructive
participation in this and other initiatives aimed at gathering
working knowledge on how to reduce accident events and improve agency
operations. For more information, contact Dave Potts at 703-838-1848 or dpotts@trucking.org.
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