Protesting truckers warn higher fuel costs push up other prices

U.S. report says wholesale price jump tied to costly oil

March 16, 2000
Web posted at: 9:25 p.m. EST (0225 GMT)

In this story: Statistics seem to corroborate warning 'We're not getting the support that we need' What truckers want World thirst for oil grows RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Independent truckers steered their rigs in convoys to Washington on Thursday, seeking federal relief from the rise in fuel prices that they say threatens their livelihoods.

VIDEO The U.S. has oil it can use to drop prices, but as CNN's Rusty Dornin reports, it's in a wildlife refuge. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K What about cheaper, alternative fuel? CNN's Ed Garsten investigates. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     AUDIO Thomas Pokrywka, president of the independent truckers' organization, talks to CNN about why truckers are in Washington 434K/40 sec. AIFF or WAV sound 195K/17 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     MESSAGE BOARD Rising oil prices

Venting anger at the government, drivers also warned that the fuel costs that have more than doubled for them in the past year will ripple through the U.S. economy, forcing higher prices for food and other merchandise. New government statistics backed them up.

The truckers, who gathered for a rally on Capitol Hill, were holding their second fuel cost protest in less than a month. While the Senate is not in session, rally organizers directed truckers to the offices of their congressional representatives.

"Our main agenda is to try to get the administration and Congress to try to understand that if there isn't some action immediately ... a certain portion of the trucking industry is going to be lost," said Thomas Pokrywka, president of the National Owner Operators Trucking Association.

The result, he told CNN, would be higher prices for consumer goods.

"Nobody would be hurt more by (truckers) not being able to deliver the goods than the American public," Pokrywka said. "And we, as the trucking industry, certainly don't want to leave the American shelves empty."

"You could see it as early as this summer," he said.

The federal government announced separately on Thursday that U.S. wholesale prices in February made their biggest jump in nearly a decade, largely because of more expensive oil.

At the White House, U.S. President Bill Clinton said that although he hopes oil-producing countries will increase output to bring prices down, there is more the United States can do in the meantime.

The president, however, did not provide details of anything his administration might do to ease gasoline prices that now average $1.54 for a gallon of regular unleaded.

Truckers, many of whom are now paying close to $2 a gallon -- or more -- for diesel fuel, drove their rigs into Washington on several different routes on their way to the Capitol Hill rally. Some came from as far away as Maine, Florida and Wisconsin.

"We are in desperate need of immediate help," said Joe Smith, one of several independent truckers who addressed the rally. "For most of us, the profit margin has become nonexistent."

"For the first time since I started in this business 21 years ago, I have not only felt uninspired, but I've also felt discouraged," said Smith, of Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania.

Clinton has "turned his back on us," charged Douglas Sorantino, a rally organizer and owner of a small trucking firm in New Jersey.

"A lot of my associates in New Jersey are bringing their trucks back," Sorantino said. "They're going bankrupt and we've been pleading for two months (for help) ... and we're not getting the support that we need."

Thursday's turnout appeared smaller than the February 22 rally, when about 300 truckers, mostly from the northeastern United States, gathered for a rally in Washington sponsored by the same independent truckers' group.

But the frustration level of those who did attend was evident. Asked how rising fuel prices cut into his profit, trucker Joe Barnett shot back, "What profit?"

"Guys are losing their trucks. They're going out of business over this," he told CNN by cellular phone as he drove his rig to Washington.

Truckers complain that although they can add a fuel surcharge to cover rising prices, it's not enough to fully compensate for their extra expense. They want a formula to be established that allows truckers to immediately pass on fuel increases to end users.

Truckers also want the federal government to:

• Roll back the 24-cent-per-gallon federal excise tax on diesel fuel, retroactive to January 1. A measure now under consideration in Congress would enable truckers to apply for rebates on the fuel tax.

Independent truck driver Johnny Hensley says high prices force him to pay $200 more a week for fuel

• Investigate the role of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in determining fuel prices.

• Guarantee a minimum rate for hauling loads. The proposal is aimed at ensuring drivers who work for themselves aren't forced out of business by rising fuel costs.

• Release some of the national oil reserves, an emergency step aimed at alleviating fuel shortages and reducing prices, but which the Clinton administration is unwilling to take.

The truckers have found some members of Congress support their efforts.

Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-New Jersey, backs $100 million in emergency relief for owner-operators in the current federal budget.

Torricelli also is sponsoring the 24-cent tax rollback proposal, while Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colorado, has introduced another bill that would repeal the diesel tax at the refinery level.

Truckers also support bipartisan legislation that would halt U.S. international aid and arms sales to oil-producing nations that don't increase production.

That bill is expected to go to a floor vote in the House next week. Similar legislation is pending in the Senate, and is on a fast track.

U.S. crude oil prices have tripled in the year since OPEC began production cuts, but if output increases after cartel members meet March 27, the White House says refiners should immediately pass on the savings to consumers at the gas pump.

"What we expect the oil companies to do is as the cost of oil goes down, that those savings are immediately passed on to consumers and that there should be no lag," spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters Thursday. "That's something that we'll be watching very closely."

Longer term, the world shows no sign of losing its thirst for oil.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration released a new report Thursday showing world demand for oil would rise about 2 percent annually, jumping from the current 75 million barrels per day to about 113 million barrels per day in 2020.

Correspondent Kathleen Koch, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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National Owner Operators Trucking Association
United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - OPEC
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Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission
Global Oilfield & Petroleum Directory
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