The New Jersey Supreme Court on July 19 struck down the state’s $212 hazardous materials transporter fee, in a decision stemming from a suit American Trucking Associations had brought against the state.

A little more than five weeks after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the government to allow Mexican trucks to deliver in the United States, industry and government officials told Transport Topics some significant barriers remained to opening the border anytime soon.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it was working with industry representatives to determine the locations of proposed “clean corridors” where fleets could buy ultra-low-sulfur fuel in 2005 to test 2007 diesel engines in actual operating conditions.

Railroads struggling to cope with higher-than-usual freight volumes and a labor shortage at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., have caused congestion there that could last throughout the fall, industry representatives said.

FedEx Corp. lost a round in its attempt to limit the amount of money it must pay back after the Transportation Department decided it had given the package carrier too much money to make up for business it temporarily lost immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Intermodal Association of North America said its constituents had adopted a voluntary program for inspecting intermodal equipment. The association’s president said she hoped the inspection program would head off legislation or government regulation.

U.S. retail sales of Class 8 trucks in May rose 28.8% from a year earlier, making total 2004 heavy-duty sales 44.5% higher than the first five months of 2003.

The Environmental Protection Agency released initial details of a pilot program that would measure diesel exhaust emissions during highway use with portable, onboard emission measurement systems.

WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency officials said the agency would push for all 11 million diesel engines in the country to be retrofitted within 10 years in order to reduce their emissions of particulate matter.

The United States seeks to encourage trucking companies to reduce exhaust emissions as a way of improving air quality at the southern border and hopes to enlist the aid of Mexico in a coordinated effort, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official said.