Farmers and truckers across Texas can now run red off-road diesel on public roads and move timber, fuel, and farm loads at a gross weight of up to 95,000 pounds, with the state declaring a statewide disaster over record diesel prices. That is according to Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, who issued the proclamation on Monday, with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles suspending its size and weight rules for those loads the same day.
“Texas agriculture and freight run on diesel. Record prices put both industries at risk and raise costs for every Texas family,” Abbott said in a statement. His office said he had suspended the restrictions and penalties on running the untaxed fuel on public roads, but not the fuel tax itself.
It comes as diesel on the Gulf Coast averaged US$5.955 a gallon at the pump on Monday, according to the federal Energy Information Administration, up from $5.360 four weeks earlier. The national average stood at $6.382 on the same day, down from $6.529 a week before.
Unrefined timber, wood chips, and the equipment used to load timber onto a truck are all covered, the motor vehicles department said, provided the load would still qualify for an overweight permit. Haulers would otherwise need one, such as the department’s annual timber permit, to run a load of raw wood above the 80,000-pound legal limit.
“Suspension of permitting requirements does not imply that a road, highway, or bridge can safely accommodate the movement of an oversize or overweight vehicle and load,” the notice states. Drivers must keep the notice and Abbott’s proclamation in the cab, and cannot cross a load-posted bridge above its posted capacity unless it is the only public access.
“For loggers and truckers it is take it or leave it,” Scott Dane, executive director of the American Loggers Council, said last month of mills refusing to pay loggers a fuel surcharge. It comes after Michael Campbell, president and chief executive of the South Carolina Timber Producers Association, put the case to the council to halt ultra-low-sulphur diesel exports until East Coast stocks recover.
Brian Kemp, the Governor of Georgia, declared a state of emergency on Monday as well, suspending his state’s weight limits on commercial vehicles whilst halting its motor fuel excise tax for 30 days. Kemp’s office said that by suspending the limits, the state would further cut the cost built into everyday goods such as groceries.
As it stands, Texas will keep the suspension in place until the governor’s office ends it or the disaster declaration expires, the motor vehicles department said. Abbott has also asked Lee Zeldin, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to temporarily waive federal ultra-low-sulphur diesel rules, which his office said would put more fuel into Texas pumps.
