TORONTO — The Ontario Trucking Association is hoping Ottawa will heed the call to relieve the shortage of truck fuel by allowing truckers to use off-spec a brand of diesel, which was used for more than a decade until this past October and is still used in off-road applications.

Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Dwight Duncan is hoping to make the message clear too. In a letter to federal environment minister John Baird Duncan states that “Ontario’s economy is heavily dependent on trucking, and the trucking industry is solely dependent on diesel fuel.”

He said that temporarily allowing the trucking industry to use non-Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel “would significantly reduce the negative impact on the Ontario economy arising from the current situation.”

Ultra low sulfur diesel (15 parts per million) was mandated for on-highway use in Canada last year. But the fuel used previously by truckers (500 ppm) is the standard for off-road trucks and rail.

Ottawa can relieve truckers by allowing off road
fuel. But red tape is making it difficult says OTA

Last night, Dan McTeague, Liberal Member of Parliament for Pickering-Scarborough East, wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, adding his support to OTA’s request.

OTA President David Bradley says he welcomes the support of the provincial government and federal MP’s like Dan McTeague. “Ontario gets it, members of parliament get it, now we need support from the Government of Canada,” he said.

Bradley says the shortage of truck diesel has worsened in the last 48 hours with trucking companies being cut off from deliveries to their underground storage tanks, as well as retail cardlocks being closed throughout the province and fuel being rationed to a quarter of a tank.

“There are millions of litres of fuel that is perfectly suitable to use by trucks sitting in reserve, that we need temporary access to, but it’s not happening,” says Bradley.

This morning, Bradley told Todaystrucking.com that red tape and regulatory hurdles has delayed a federal decision on off-road usage since the association made the request over a week ago.

The government claims it does not have the authority to suspend the current regulation governing truck diesel fuel standards, even on a temporary basis because the move would require a regulatory change which under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which would take a minimum of 60 days to pass.

OTA says the government could introduce emergency legislation as it did recently to end the CN Rail strike. “However, given that MP’s started their March break today, that is not likely to happen,” Bradley says.

Or perhaps, says Bradley, the federal government could take a “soft approach” to enforcing the ULSD standard for a short period of time until the fuel supply situation stabilizes, and assure the oil companies they would not be prosecuted for selling the off-road fuel to the truckers.

“There must be a way; it’s an intolerable situation we are facing with trucks roaming around looking to find fuel to put in their tanks,” he says. “It is quite incredible that an industry the size of the oil producers could allow this situation to occur.”

Just as amazing, however, is how resilient the trucking industry has been under very trying circumstances. “We all hope we have hit bottom and that for everyone’s sake fuel inventories will improve soon,” says Bradley. “But right now I would have to say that is just wishful thinking because we have seen nothing so far that would suggest next week won’t be as bad as this week has been or worse.”