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Released: November 14, 2007
Oil Tops $98 a Barrel
Crude oil rose above $98 a barrel for the first time last week as the dollar slid to a record low and analysts forecast U.S. stockpiles declined for a third week. The jump came a day after oil futures closed at a record $96.70 on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday, with some traders saying the price could reach $100 a barrel. Crude oil rose $1.92 (or 2%) to $98.62 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the Nymex, the highest since trading began in 1983. Diesel fuel reached a record $3.303 a gallon Monday in the wake of soaring crude oil prices, the U.S. Department of Energy reported to NASSTRAC. Source: Bloomberg
Bridge Bill Passes House
Rep. James L. Oberstar's bill to inspect and repair the nation's most dangerous bridges may have been approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, but his proposal to fund the endeavor with a 5-cent gas tax was rejected. Instead, the National Highway Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act has proposed a $2 billion authorization from the Highway Trust Fund's general fund to fix more than 73,000 structurally deficient bridges on the federal highway system. "This is not the bill I hoped to introduce," Oberstar recently told the Associated Press.
"Anyone who claims we can fix over 73,000 structurally deficient bridges without additional revenue is not telling you the whole truth." According to estimates from the American Society of Civil Engineers, it would cost $9.4 billion a year for the next 20 years to fund those repairs. Oberstar, the transportation committee's chairman, proposed the gas tax increase immediately following the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis in August, calculating the hike could generate $25 billion over a three-year period. But he dropped the idea after it received staunch opposition from the White House and key members of the Senate opposed a gas tax increase.
Transportation Bill Moves Forward
A transportation appropriations bill that cuts off funding to the U.S.
Department of Transportation's cross border trucking program and prohibits tolling of existing Federal highways in Texas was advanced by a House-Senate committee Thursday evening. The legislation, included in the $105.6 billion Transportation, Housing and Urban Develop Appropriations Act, provides $40.2 billion in highway infrastructure funding and $85 million to improve rail and pipeline safety. It also provides $1 billion for deficient bridges in the country, $195 million to help pay for the collapsed I-35 bridge in Minneapolis and $3.5 billion for airport efficiency, modernization and safety grants.
FMCSA Adds Cross-border Tracking
Trucks participating in the Transportation Department's cross-border trucking demonstration project will get brand new satellite tracking devices well before Christmas. The early holiday present is part of a plan to satisfy members of Congress who expressed a desire to know whether participants are complying with federal safety and trade laws. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to install the technology by the end of November on all trucks from the United States and Mexico that take part in the program. FMCSA said the initial cost will be approximately $367,000. The GPS-based technology, developed by Qualcomm, will allow real-time tracking of truck location, documenting every international-border and state-line crossing, FMCSA said. The agency said it will track trucks by vehicle number and company only - no driver information will be collected.
Third-Quarter Productivity Jumps 4.9%
U.S. worker productivity rose at an annual rate of 4.9% in the third quarter, the most in four years, the Labor Department said last week. The level topped economists' estimates of 3.2% third-quarter growth and a revised 2.2% second-quarter gain. Productivity is a measure of how much an employee produces for every hour of work. When worker efficiency improves at a slower pace and labor becomes more expensive, companies may raise prices in order to guard their profits, contributing to more rapid inflation.
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