North Texas horse hauler doubts dyed diesel order will help truckers much

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that lets anyone buy tax-exempt dyed diesel and burn it on public roads, a step meant to ease fuel costs that FOX 4 tied to the fighting in Iran and Ukraine. The federal order does nationally what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's disaster proclamation covering every one of the state's 254 counties did last week, the station reported.

Dyed diesel is normally limited to off-road machines such as farm equipment. Dropping the tax on it is supposed to cut what drivers and businesses pay at the pump. One North Texas trucker told FOX 4 he expects little relief.

Where to fill up

Joel Rifkin owns Run Amok Transportation, which hauls horses. He said his drivers are going through roughly $3,000 a day in fuel.

The problem, he said, is finding the fuel. Buc-ee's sells off-road diesel at some Texas stores, but the big national truck stop chains, including Love's, Pilot Flying J, TA and QuikTrip, usually do not carry it, according to FOX 4.

"For somebody like me, it's not really going to change anything. Because where can I take a tractor trailer and get off road diesel?" Rifkin said. "It's not like your mainline truck stops are going to support, start supplying off-road diesel."

Red dye that lingers

Truckers also worry about what happens after the order lapses. Off-road diesel is dyed red, while road diesel is dyed green, and the red can stay in a truck's tanks, fuel lines and filters for a long time. In normal times, inspectors who find red dye in a long-haul truck's fuel system take the truck out of service.

"So, I don't know what the long-term implication is because the dye stays in your tanks and lines for quite a while. So, I don't know how the federal motor carriers will end up doing that long term," Rifkin said.

He added that livestock haulers have fewer ways to save fuel than drivers carrying freight, hay or grain, who can ease off the gas a few miles an hour to stretch each gallon. Driving slower means horses and other animals ride longer, which he said is a hard sell to customers.

"But unfortunately, hauling livestock, backing it down and trying to slow down for fuel savings is a really hard pitch to our customers when their animals are on the trailer for a couple, three hours longer than they need to be," he said.

Sources

FOX 4