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September 27, 2000 10:56 AM, EDT

Trucking industry officials have been vocal in calling for a release of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve in hopes of driving pump prices down with an additional supply of diesel fuel.

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“The price of diesel has gone up 73% in the last 18 months,” American Trucking Associations’ President Walter B. McCormick Jr. told CNBC Sept. 21. He said that “more than 1,300 smaller fleets have gone out of business and 35,000 owner-operators have returned trucks” because of the price crisis.

Echoing statements in letters he has sent to President Clinton and administration officials, McCormick said tapping the reserve would increase the U.S. oil supply, have a downward impact on fuel prices and demonstrate to the OPEC cartel that it cannot hold this country hostage to their production policies.

Not everybody supports dipping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Critics say that there is not enough petroleum in the reserve to affect the supply-and-demand equation. Some also say that using reserves in an attempt to influence prices is not the kind of national emergency envisioned for the SPR.

For the full story, see the Sept. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. .