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The Environmental Protection Agency issued a nearly 600-page request for public comment on whether it should use existing law to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, a decision one trucking official said was a way to further delay any new regulations until after President Bush leaves office.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said two California environmental agencies awarded grants totaling more than $11 million to further the development of natural gas fueling stations and vehicles.

The U.S. retail diesel average rose 3.7 cents last week to another record, $4.764 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported, while the price of crude oil posted its largest single-day drop in 17 years on July 15.

Behind this year’s surge in trucking company failures, brought on largely by the double-whammy of slow freight and skyrocketing fuel prices, is another ominous trend: a sharp increase in the number of motor carriers asking larger competitors to buy them out.

Heavy-duty U.S. retail truck sales grew by 9.5% in June, compared with year-ago levels, and ended a streak of 17 consecutive months of contraction, according to the latest survey by WardsAuto.com.

It has been a year of retrenchment for most, but not all, of the largest for-hire carriers in the United States and Canada, as fleets scramble to cope with record fuel prices and weak freight demand.

Manufacturing levels in the Philadelphia region showed contraction in July for the eighth straight month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday.

New housing starts surged in June led by more multifamily construction, but single-family home starts fell, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Business inventories rose 0.3% in May, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.