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The U.S. retail diesel average price fell 3.7 cents a gallon to $2.833 last week, the largest one-week decline since July, the Department of Energy reported.

California environmental regulators are considering several options to delay some requirements of the state’s diesel emissions regulation to provide “short-term relief” for truckers feeling the effects of the recession.

Aggressive fuel economy research and development funded by the federal government will reduce fuel consumption of long-haul trucks by 30%, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate committee Thursday.

Gasoline’s national average price fell 1.4 cents over the past two weeks to an average $2.72 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday.

The national diesel average declined 0.9 cent to $2.87 last week as pump prices moderated after a sharp spike the prior three weeks, the Department of Energy reported.

Trucking industry officials have filed comments opposing the California Air Resources Board’s plan to initiate a statewide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In a legal maneuver designed to bolster its defense in a federal lawsuit filed by truck manufacturer Navistar Inc., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revised its 2010 engine selective catalytic reduction guidance to remove a specific requirement limiting the hours and miles a truck can operate after its urea tank runs dry.

A new economist’s report challenges claims that trains are more fuel efficient than trucks and questions whether hauling more freight by rail actually improves air quality.