91��Ƶ

Consumer prices fell 0.7% in December led by declining energy costs and slowing the declines of previous months, the Labor Department said Friday.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate Lisa Jackson said she was “open to discussion” of a carbon tax to limit greenhouse gas emissions and would immediately begin a review of the Bush administration’s denial of California’s request to regulate those emissions from automobiles.

The Environmental Protection Agency, as proposed, has formally required new heavy trucks to have warning lights that indicate when engine emission controls are malfunctioning or deteriorating, starting in 2010.

The U.S. retail diesel average declined 3.6 cents to $2.291 a gallon last week, the 14th consecutive drop, but analysts warned that fleets’ fuel costs are poised to start rising again.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it is concerned that emissions systems using a copper compound that engine maker Cummins Inc. will use in 2010 models could generate “likely human carcinogen” dioxins, in which case it would “likely not certify” the systems.

WASHINGTON — A national commission studying transportation infrastructure funding is set to recommend that Congress raise fuel taxes now but eventually replace them with levies based on miles traveled.