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Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) this week introduced a bill that would replace the diesel and gas tax with a carbon tax, the latest congressional proposal aimed at boosting transportation dollars ahead of the reauthorization of a major highway law this spring.

WASHINGTON — Environmental officials from California and the East Coast said during a Transportation Research Board panel here that trucks still require special attention because of diesel emissions, even though such output became much cleaner from 1998 to 2010.

Diesel prices began the new year the same way they finished 2014, with the U.S. retail average falling 7.6 cents to $3.137 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.

The possibility of more Mexican trucks running in the United States is still up in the air after a recent report by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General concluded participation in a three-year pilot program was too small to yield sufficient safety data.

California’s cap-and-trade program extended its reach to diesel fuel and gasoline on Jan. 1, creating no immediate price change but a great deal of concern about the workings over time of a highly complex system.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters Jan. 8 he does not think there is sufficient support in his chamber to approve an increase to the federal fuel tax.

The trade deficit narrowed in November as U.S. petroleum imports sank to the lowest level in more than five years.

The trade deficit was little changed in October as an improving U.S. economy caused imports to climb to a record while exports also rose.

Trucking and natural-gas industry witnesses told a Senate panel Dec. 3 that Congress could spur the use of the alternative fuel in the transportation sector by changing the tax code, subsidizing a fueling network and addressing existing weight restrictions on highways.