News & Notes: Diesel Prices Overtake Gas
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Source: Energy Information Administration |
PITTSFIELD — Remember when buying and operating a diesel-engine vehicle was a good way to save fuel costs? Not anymore.
In fact, operating a diesel-engine vehicle of any kind is more expensive then an engine using regular gasoline. Case in point, a listener pointed out that the price of diesel at XtraMart in North Adams on Monday was a whopping $4.26; it's $4.21 in Great Barrington and Pittsfield.
Besides private diesel-powered vehicles, think of how many larger trucks, tractor-trailers, school buses and even locomotive engines are powered with diesel fuel. Compared to previous months, the federal Energy Information Administration shows the price of diesel spiking sharply higher since February and more than double what it was last year.
<L2>The average price of diesel fuel was usually lower than gasoline until a few years ago, when worldwide demand began rising. In the United States, the transition to low-sulfur diesel fuel has affected production and distribution costs and federal excise tax on diesel fuel is 6 cents higher per gallon than the tax on gasoline.
According to an Associated Press report, the American Trucking Association is calling it a "crisis situation" and is asking Congress and the Bush administration to increase the availability of diesel fuel any way possible. The trucking industry is expecting to spend $135 billion in fuel costs this year, compared to $112.6 billion last year.
No wonder the cost of transportation and goods and services that use diesel-fuel vehicles are going sky high.
