Diesel fuel prices have hit an all-time high in California, topping San Francisco off at $3.15 per gallon.

The national average is $2.55 per gallon. California truckers are being forced off their interstate highways, unable to compete with trucks driving in from other states with less expensive diesel fuel.
"Big rigs can travel nearly 1,800 miles on a single fueling, making California the no-fuel zone for out of state trucking companies and negatively impacting the state's highway revenue,” said Michael D. Campbell, chief executive officer of the 2,500 member California Trucking Assn. (CTA).
In 1993, enthusiastic California refiners convinced the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to adopt a California-only diesel fuel standard. The regulation prohibits the import of diesel fuel by any entity other than a California refinery. Assembly Bill 679 (Calderon) would allow environmentally-friendly diesel fuel to be sold in the state regardless of where the refinery is located.
"If the fuel is as clean as or cleaner than the fuel sold by California refiners, it could be imported and sold to California businesses. AB 679 will bring a screeching halt to both the tight supply of diesel fuel and the escalating diesel prices that are economically damaging California's agricultural and trucking companies," said state Assemblyman Ron Calderon, the author of the bill.
"The prohibition on the import of compliant fuel was and is an unholy alliance between the government and a handful of California refineries, and penalizes the truckers based within the state with upwards of 60 cents per gallon price difference," said Stephanie R. Williams, Senior Vice President of CTA.
"Higher CARB diesel costs have caused a slowdown in California truckers' replacement of their older vehicles," said Jim Ganduglia, President of Ganduglia Trucking located in Fresno. "We are priced out of the market and can't afford less polluting trucks because California fleet owners must absorb the higher CARB diesel costs to compete with interstate trucking operations."
In 2006, the federal fuel specifications for diesel will make the fuel lower in sulfur content than gasoline. California truckers supported the ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel federally and were expecting to end the state-only standard. CARB has recently made a policy decision that they will mandate a different formulation of diesel fuel for California in 2006. The fuel formulation is yet to be announced.
"This is a bad trade when the state accepts the current 5% reduction in pollution estimated for diesel fuel and foregoes the 90% reduction from purchasing modern equipment," stated Williams. "Shouldn't they have to prove that they can make a cleaner fuel before they adopt a new standard? "