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Adverse community reaction and environmental impact should be addressed in considering future rail merger cases, the Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater told the Surface Transportation Board.

In the news this morning: Driver fatigue to be an issue in Philadelphia truck crash trial; Yellow Freight appoints new president; and Consolidated Freightways truck driver awarded $800,000 in discrimination lawsuit.

This afternoon's headlines: West Virginia recommends audit of carrier after wreck; Intrenet subsidiary honored by California electric utility for customer service; and Ontario cops target Hwy. 400 traffic during Canadian holiday weekend.

Most sulfur in diesel fuel would be eliminated under an Environmental Protection Agency proposed rule designed to improve national air quality, but reaching these goals promises to spark major price increases at the pump.

The average price of diesel fuel rose 1.3 cents a gallon this week, gaining back half of the decline posted in the previous two weeks.

Authorization for the federal highway program doesn’t expire until 2003, but trucking, railroad, labor and safety interests are already jockeying for position on the issue of longer combination vehicles.

“Effluent,” the stuff coming out of tank trailers as they are being cleaned, is about to be regulated as never before, but the haulers say the federal government is writing a big price tag based on faulty research.

In the news this morning: Volvo's Johansson sees possible truck alliances in Asia; Sthen named to lead Volvo truck division; and Teamsters, carriers team up to recruit more drivers.

Shareholders of Ryder System soundly rejected a proposal to put the company up for sale. They also voted down a proposal to require the annual election of all directors — a measure the current board opposed.

American Trans-Freight has purchased the truckload division of Redwood Systems, a contract logistics unit of Consolidated Freightways Corp.