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Minnesota Department of Agriculture officials have rejected a request by the state’s trucking association to delay a plan to increase the mix of biofuel to 20% of all diesel sold in the state beginning May 1.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel rose 1.6 cents to $2.507 as crude prices inched up toward $47 a barrel after Saudi Arabia said it would make additional cuts in its own production.

The U.S. average diesel price rose 1 cent to $2.491, the Department of Energy said July 17.

Congress hasn’t raised the federal gas tax since 1993 when Bill Clinton was president, but a narrow majority of Americans would support an increase to help fix crumbling roads and bridges in their own states.

The EPA has proposed cutting back on the minimum required volume of renewable fuels produced in 2018 and putting the brakes on the minimum volume of biomass-based diesel produced in the United States in 2019.

The U.S. average diesel price has risen a cent to $2.491, the Department of Energy said July 17. The fuel has increased 2.6 cents over three weeks.

South Carolina on July 1 began a six-year trek that will raise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel by 2 cents a gallon each July into 2022.

Proponents of an initiative to repeal gas tax increases in California plan to sue over the state-drafted title and summary for the ballot measure, which they say is misleading and negative.

U.S. crude producers are still set to pump record amounts of the commodity next year, but less so than previously projected, according to the latest government estimates.

TT Managing Editor Lorrie Grant chats with government reporters Eugene Mulero and Eric Miller to recap the year so far in congressional and regulatory news that impact trucking, and looks ahead at the final six months. (Joseph Terry/Transport Topics)