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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep. John Pallone |
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Pallone: Time to stall soaring gas prices
Legislator joins local trucker rally to
bring attention to high cost of filling up
ARNOLD, March 25 – On Monday, more than two dozen independent truckers staged a rally in
Parks Township to bring attention to soaring diesel fuel prices and how that
cost is trickling down to consumers across Pennsylvania.
State Rep. John Pallone,
D-Westmoreland/Armstrong, joined the rally and noted that as truckers pay more
for fuel, consumers pay more for the products truckers deliver.
“There are motorists paying
as much as $50 to fill up their tanks and that’s a pretty painful tab,"
Pallone said. "But truckers are paying more than $400 to fill the tanks on
their rigs. Eighty-six percent of Pennsylvania communities depend solely on
trucking for delivery of their goods, and soaring gas prices are taking a toll
on residents’ budgets and the state’s economy.”
According to the
Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, the price for a gallon of diesel fuel in
the Central Atlantic Region, which includes Pennsylvania, is $4.17, up nearly
$1.50 from March 2007 and the highest price in the nation.
“It is time for the federal government and
President Bush to acknowledge there is a recession, that fuel prices are a big
part of that recession, and to do something to control prices at the pump for
tuckers and ordinary drivers,” Pallone said.
Trucking is the fourth-largest
employer in Pennsylvania with approximately one out of every 11 workers
employed in trucking-related occupations. In 2001, 273 million tons, or 84
percent of all manufactured freight, was transported in and out of Pennsylvania
by trucks.
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