WOODVILLE – A disaster proclamation issued by Gov. Greg Abbott last week to allow expanded use of dyed diesel on Texas roads is being hailed as “a big win” for logging and forestry.
The Texas Forestry Association made a statement following Abbott’s proclamation last Tuesday pertaining to the expansion of dyed diesel usage. “These actions can provide meaningful relief for the logging contractors who keep Texas’s forest products moving,” the statement read.
Abbott’s proclamation also raises the allowable weight for fuel, agricultural and timber loads and suspends the Texas Low Emission Diesel (TxLED) rules to the extent that the EPA authorizes, according to Abbott’s proclamation. Abbott also put in a request to the EPA to waive federal ultra-low sulfur diesel requirements. He asked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for the temporary Clean Air Act waiver pertaining to ultra-low sulfur diesel rules and the TxLED rules applying to 110 of Texas’s 254 counties.
“Texas agriculture and freight run on diesel,” Abbott said. “Record prices put both industries at risk and raise costs for every Texas family.”
The suspension of certain weight restrictions will allow those loads to operate at weights of up to 95,000 lbs. per load.
The national average for diesel fuel, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is $6.382 per gallon, as of Sunday evening.
Dyed diesel is off-road fuel that is marked red, and typically used in agricultural operations, sold without a motor-fuels tax. Since it is untaxed, state law typically bars its use on public roadways. Abbott’s proclamation suspends the state restrictions and penalties so that operators can use such fuel on state roadways, but the underlying fuel tax is not waived by the proclamation.
