NATSO, representing the nation’s travel plazas and truckstops, and SIGMA: America’s Leading Fuel Marketers, issued the following statement with regard to the ongoing rail labor negotiations and their potential impact on the nation’s fuel supply. The following statement can be attributed to Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman, NATSO’s Vice President of Public Affairs.
“We encourage the Administration and Congress to take aggressive action to resolve the ongoing labor dispute within the rail industry. If a work stoppage were to occur, it would immediately disrupt fuel marketers’ ability to ensure a reliable and stable supply of fuel for U.S. consumers and for the nation’s commercial fleets. The U.S. economy in many ways revolves around transportation fuel, and if the necessary components to that fuel cannot get to where they are needed, the market impact will be drastic. The economic consequences will be catastrophic.
“A prolonged railroad shutdown will constrain the nation’s fuel supply by disrupting the availability of ethanol, which is often an essential component of gasoline, and diesel exhaust fluid, which most heavy-duty trucks need to run.
“Amid tight fuel supplies and low inventories, idled rail cars stand to introduce a massive disruption in the availability of these additives exposing the fuel market to a marked decrease in supply from which it would not be able to quickly adjust.”
