The best approach to decarbonization provides the greatest environmental benefit at the lowest possible cost. Current regulations do neither while unleashing inflationary consequences that will be felt for decades to come. EV mandates for the trucking industry are an enormous mistake for many reasons validated by a new study from the American Transportation Research Institute. The report, Renewable Diesel – A Catalyst for Decarbonization, provides data using the U.S. Department of Energy's GREET model that proves renewable diesel (RD) has a much smaller carbon footprint over its lifecycle than do battery-electric trucks, and that widescale adoption of RD in trucking can be achieved at a fraction of the cost of electrification. To be clear: the trucking industry is not opposed to battery-electric vehicles (BEV). Some fleets are testing them, and the initial results are mixed at best. What's abundantly clear from early adopters of this technology is that the hurdles to widescale adoption are so massive and undeniable that target and timelines mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) can be described as nothing more than utterly disconnected from reality.

Motor fuel prices slipped 1.2 percent on Friday, the first decline in front-month futures in almost two weeks, after a 25 percent gain in August. Crude in New York extended declines following the worst month since March. About 4.4 million barrels a day of U.S. refining capacity remains shuttered. The government plans to supply 1 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a Gulf Coast plant, the first emergency release in five years. Hurricane Harvey cut U.S. refining capacity to the lowest level since 2008 after its initial strike on the Texas coast late last week. It returned as a storm to hit Louisiana on Wednesday, bringing torrential rains that shut the biggest U.S. refinery, owned by Motiva Enterprises LLC in Port Arthur, Texas. The lack of production forced Colonial Pipeline Co. to curb flows to a link that carries fuels to the Northeast. Valero Energy Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc told wholesale customers Wednesday they don’t have enough gasoline and diesel to sell. Click Read More below for additional detail.

Futures in New York fell as much as 1.1 percent, after losing 3.6 percent in the previous two sessions. U.S. crude stockpiles last week rose to the highest level since December, while gasoline reserves expanded at four times the predicted rate. Meanwhile, data for November showed the shale boom drove U.S. output to a record. U.S. stockpiles of oil stored in tanks and terminals rose by 3.02 million barrels to about 423 million, the fourth increase in five weeks, according to the Energy Information Administration. That compares with a median estimate for a 3 million-barrel gain in a Bloomberg survey. Gasoline inventories expanded by 2.48 million barrels, more than the 600,000-barrel average estimate. Click Read More below for additional information.