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The proposed controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Oklahoma would supply a stable and secure source of energy for the United States and its trucking industry, and its construction should be approved, an American Trucking Associations official told the State Department this month.

The Teamsters union and highway safety advocates have asked President Obama to “expeditiously more forward” on the new hours of service rule proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Trucking leaders are scheduled to gather this week at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition to discuss critical issues, get familiar with vendors’ latest products and hear from experts on how the political and economic environment will affect their businesses over the next year.

Agricultural lobbyist Jon Samson has been appointed executive director of American Trucking Associations’ Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference.

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s proposal for a $10 billion national infrastructure bank is “dead on arrival,” the chairman of the House transportation committee said last week, and other Republicans on the panel said the bank was unnecessary because its goals could be achieved through other means.

The U.S. retail diesel and gasoline averages declined for the fifth straight week, even as crude oil prices continued to rise, the Department of Energy reported.

When we gathered in Phoenix last year, I said I was hopeful that, like the mythical bird the city was named for, our industry was preparing to rise from the ashes of the deep recession we’d just fought through and that, when we came together in Grapevine, as with many things in Texas, things would be “bigger and better” for our industry.

Accolades to you for the front-page feature article that was published in your Sept. 26 issue and headlined “Transportation Officials Urge National Effort to Attract Next Generation of Industry Talent.”

This will be a busy week for the leaders of the nation’s trucking industry who will be meeting at American Trucking Associations’ annual Management Conference & Exhibition.