The Colorado State Patrol and Gov. Bill Owens’ administration are taking steps to try to alleviate the state’s chronic diesel fuel shortage.
The State Patrol, with the administration’s backing, said it had exempted truckers and motor carriers hauling diesel fuel as cargo within Colorado from rules governing maximum hours of service.
The idea is to deliver more diesel fuel to suppliers throughout the state. At the moment, supplies are so tight that some truck stops are limiting the quantities truck drivers can buy.
Under normal circumstances, truckers are limited to 11 hours of driving time at a stretch and can’t drive after having been on duty for more than 14 hours. They also are limited to 70 hours of driving time in eight days or 60 hours in seven days.
Those limits have been lifted for diesel fuel haulers until Aug. 18 at 5 p.m., though drivers are still required to operate safely under the relaxed rules, said Sgt. Mark Savage of the Colorado State Patrol.
The chief of the State Patrol, Mark V. Trostel, temporarily suspended the regulations Friday.
In a letter Friday, Greg Fulton, president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, requested the changes.
Fulton said he requested the suspension of the regulations because “you have the fuel transporters having to go, in many cases, a greater distance in the state to get the fuel from a limited number of distribution points, and they are waiting longer in lines for that.”
At least one trucking-company employee, Jeff Rhinehart of ITL Tanklines in Henderson, said he thought the change would have little effect.
“There is no relief for us,” he said.
“Here’s the problem: The diesel is allocated, and it doesn’t get allocated until a certain time in the morning, and what’s going on there (is) everybody is trying to get it at 4 a.m.,” he said. “There are lines of trucks trying to get it. So consequently, they are out of allocation by 9 or 10 in the morning. So once it’s out, it’s out.”
But Mari Gordon, manager of fuels and transportation services at Colorado Petroleum, said the rule suspension is “absolutely critical.”
“We need that because we are having such a hard time getting fuel going to different places, and you can run out of your driving hours very quickly,” she said.
Staff writer Ameera Butt can be reached at 303-820-1233 or abutt@denverpost.com.
