Remember when truckers slammed Clinton over $2 diesel? (a trip down memory lane)

[Mugsy]

I'll always remember the Summer of 2000 when I was annoyed that gas prices had climbed to the intolerable height of $1.49/gallon. Truckers were even more upset, threatening to go on strike over diesel prices nearing $2/gallon.

I ran across this old story on CNN and the disparity between what "Good ol' boys" will tolerate when a Republican is President vs. a Democrat, came roaring back to me like it was yesterday:

Truckers protest rising fuel costs in Washington
February 22, 2000 (link)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hundreds of independent truck drivers upset with the soaring cost of diesel fuel brought their complaints to Washington, D.C., Tuesday. Police estimated as many as 300 rigs lined the National Mall for the demonstration on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

Blasting their horns and displaying banners such as "Save our economy, lower fuel prices and taxes," truckers brought much of central Washington traffic to a standstill.

"Oil cartels are holding our nation hostage, and we are paying the ransom," said Douglas Sorantino, a New Jersey independent dump truck driver.

The drivers, mostly from mid-Atlantic states, including New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland, said a spike in prices for diesel fuel threatens to put them out of business.

The National Owner Operator Trucking Association (NOOTA), one of the main organizers of the protest, said drivers want a rollback of a 24-cents-per-gallon excise tax on fuel and a 15 percent fuel rebate on every gallon of diesel fuel sold.

"The aim is to get the price back to last May's price of about a $1 a gallon," said Charles Hentz, director of media relations for NOOTA.

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colorado, was among the lawmakers who turned out in support. (...)

The Energy Department reported last week that the average national price for diesel fuel was $1.46 a gallon. Diesel prices in New England were the most expensive at $1.93 a gallon and cheapest along the Gulf Coast at $1.39.

(...)

The Washington protesters vented anger at the Clinton administration and Congress, accusing them of not doing enough to help. The drivers demanded action not only to tap emergency oil stockpiles, but to use some of a record budget surplus to help them out of their crisis.

(more...)

Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. "NOOTA"?

Never heard of it.

Neither has Google. The author of that piece has the organization wrong.

It's "OOIDA"
http://www.ooida.com/
The Owner Operators Independent Drivers Association

[Mugsy]

2. Story got deep-sixed...

This post got burried so quickly after posting, I don't think many saw it, so excuse the Bump.