“Mundus vult decipi, ergo decepiatur.” –Latin proverb meaning “The world wants to be deceived; therefore, let it be deceived.”

So the price of crude oil is slipping now – dropping about $9 over the last two days, down to about $135 per barrel from a high of over $144 a barrel. Still hideously expensive, to be sure as oil cost only $87 per barrel in February this year. Yet this is definitely a very welcome trend for truckers that’ve been staggered by $5 per gallon (or more) diesel fuel costs for some time now.

Or is it?

Here’s my concern: We’ve got VERY short memories here in the U.S. on the order of, say, a gnat. For the first time in decades, we’ve managed to make a serious dent in our nation’s petroleum use. For the first time ever, oil inventories did NOT decline over the Forth of July holiday weekend – in fact, consumers used 1.2% less gasoline than the week before and 3.9% less compared to the Fourth of July in 2007. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s the first time gasoline demand has dropped so significantly.

Yet if pump prices start dropping, will we revert to our old ways? I am not talking about truckers here – freight’s got to move – but about the general public, the folks that don’t NEED to drive as much. The ones who can take public transportation to work, or carpool, or telecommute; the ones (like me) generating enough extra demand to push U.S. imports of the black stuff up near 60%, compared to 30% thirty years ago.

Then again, maybe things aren’t what they seem. Maybe all the hype about speculators creating a “bubble” in the market, for example, aren’t the real reason for the spike in oil prices we’re experiencing. Some articles written by experts at the Cato Institute got me thinking about all this so let me share some of their analysis with you.

Alan Reynolds, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute and the author of “Income and Wealth,” says there is no mystery behind the rise in oil prices. “They rose too high too fast because of booming demand for oil for petrochemical products, electric power and shipping from many emerging economies, particularly China, India and the Middle East,” he explains. “Meanwhile, the supply of oil slipped in the U.S., Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria and Russia.”

But now Reynolds says JPMorgan analysts estimate that oil will drop to $85 a barrel from 2009 to 2011. Even Goldman Sachs analyst Arjun Murti, who recently predicted oil might reach $200, later said oil will likely drop to $75 or less in the long run.

Why the change in outlook, you ask? Reynolds says the price of oil cannot reach $200. “In fact, that’s quite impossible: The world economy can’t handle current energy prices, much less a big increase,” he notes. “Which in turn means that oil prices will fall.”

In a column written for the New York Post, Reynolds points out that market analysts often claim oil prices are almost entirely determined by supply. Demand is said to be insensitive (or “inelastic”) to price. The standard example is that many Americans have to drive to work and most gas-guzzling SUVs will still be on the road even if the affluent few can trade theirs for a Prius. Whatever the price, we’ll pay it.

Reynolds believes this idea rests on two fallacies. The first is to exaggerate the U.S.’s importance when it comes to ups and downs in worldwide oil demand. In fact, America is using no more oil than it did in 2004. The second fallacy is to greatly exaggerate the importance of passenger cars in the U.S. – that’s not where we should be looking for serious “demand destruction” in his words.

“Two-thirds of petroleum in the U.S. is used for transportation - but half of the transportation sector’s fuel flows into commercial trucks, trains, buses, airplanes and ships,” he says. “As a result, only 44% of each barrel of oil is used to produce gasoline in this country, and some of that gasoline fuels business – delivery vans, landscaper trucks, fishing boats, industrial and farm machinery, etc.”

Most crude oil is used to produce diesel fuel for trucks, ships and trains, heavy fuel oil for industry, aviation fuel, asphalt, home heating oil, propane, wax, and innumerable petrochemical products ranging from detergents and drugs to synthetic fabrics and plastic, says Reynolds. In short, a huge share of crude oil is used to produce and distribute industrial products.

“That explains why the price of oil is extremely cyclical - that is, it tends to rise during economic booms and fall during contractions,” he notes. “It dropped 44% in the last recession (from November 2000 to November 2001), 48% from October 1990 to January 1992 - and 71% from July 1980 to July 1986.”

Note, too, the impact of a weak U.S. dollar, adds Steven Hanke, professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and like Reynolds a Cato senior fellow.

“For example, if the greenback had held its January 2001 value against the euro, oil would have traded at about $76 a barrel in May 2008,” he says. “This is almost $50 below the price that crude oil was trading at in May 2008. Accordingly, the decline of the dollar’s value accounted for a whopping 51% of the $97 a barrel increase in the price of oil from May 2003-2008.”

Oil prices have a huge impact on producers’ cost of production - profits and losses - not just on the cost of living for consumers, Reynolds noted. Nine out of 10 previous postwar recessions began shortly after a big spike in the price of oil. Yet those recessions always slashed oil prices dramatically, he stresses. “People who have been predicting both a nasty U.S, recession and $200 oil prices are contradicting themselves,” he says.

But note that a U.S. recession isn’t required to bring down the price of oil. All that’s needed is industrial stagnation or decline in many other countries. In the U.S. and Britain, industrial production is nearly flat - only 0.2% higher than it was a year ago. In many other countries, however, industrial production dropped over the past 12 months: down by 0.7% in Japan, 1.1% in Austria, 2.5% in Italy and Denmark, 2.9% in Canada, 5.4% in Greece, 5.7% in Singapore and 13.3% in Spain.

In April, industrial production also fell in India and China. Shrinking industry around the world shrinks demand for energy in general - and for oil in particular. “When the price of anything gets unbearably high, it discourages demand,” says Reynolds. “That has proven true of overpriced houses – and it will likewise prove true of overpriced oil.”

So demand is where it’s at – and with demand for fuel falling in the U.S., oil prices should follow, as they seem to be doing now. Let’s just hope we don’t leave the path we’re on in terms of lower consumption anytime soon.

“A significant problem we are noticing in recent years is the practice of manually adjusting self-adjusting brake adjusters. If you have a brake that is over-stroking and it has a self-adjusting or automatic brake adjuster, you more than likely have a problem with the brake or the adjuster. If you readjust it, you aren’t fixing the underlying problem.” –Stephen F. Campbell, executive director, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA)

Despite all the advances in safety technologies discussed in my last post, when you really get down to it, there’s really but one – and some would say only one – absolutely critical safety system on today’s commercial truck: the brakes. Without properly functioning brakes, every other safety device on the vehicle – collision-warning radar, anti-rollover devices, etc. – is pretty much rendered moot. (Except for the seat belt – if your brakes fail, you better be wearing it!)

Back in May this year, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) helped sponsor the “Operation Air Brake” campaign with local and federal-level law enforcement officials across 45 states and provinces across the U.S. and Canada during a 12-hour surprise inspection blitz. Some 11,908 vehicles were inspected, along with 93,751 brakes, and the results point to the industry’s need to refocus its attention on basic brake maintenance, I think

Here’s the tally of the Operation Air brake’s findings:

9.9% of vehicles placed out of service for brake adjustment defects

8.3% of vehicles placed out of service for brake component defects

15.8% of vehicles placed out of service for brake related defects

9.4% of brakes with manual brake adjusters placed out of service

3.8% of brakes with self-adjusting brake adjusters placed out of service

4.7% of all brakes inspected placed out of service for brake adjustment defects

“Poorly adjusted or defective air brakes reduce the braking capacity of large vehicles and further increase their stopping distance,” said Stephen Campbell, CVSA’s executive director. “Even under ideal conditions, the stopping distance of commercial vehicles can be twice as far as that of cars and other smaller vehicles. Having defective brakes increases the risk to the driver and any passenger, as well as to others traveling the roads.”

In a recent issue of the Technology and Maintenance Council’s Fleet Adviser Newsletter, Kevin Kuhn, fleet shop maintenance manager for the TravelCenters of America noted that “manually adjusting auto slack adjusters can give operators a false sense of security about the effectiveness of the brakes. Adjusted auto-slacks will likely go out of adjustment again soon after their adjustment and manually adjusting auto slacks does not fix the underlying issue with the braking system.”

Brakes are the basic foundation block for commercial vehicle safety systems of all types, so if they don’t work properly, the safety of the whole vehicle is compromised – not to mention those traveling alongside it. It just goes to show that, just as in sports, you’ve got to keep focused on the fundamentals in order to sustain a high level of successful performance.

And on another note, from the “do as I say, not as I do” file …

I just wanted to draw some attention to AB 2800, a section of Proposition 103 heading for California’s statewide ballot. A group called Consumer Watchdog is all in a lather over this piece of legislation as it would allow insurance companies to put black boxes in the cars to monitor speed, mileage, etc., and thus charge certain drivers higher premiums based on their driving habits.

“The insurance industry would pick driver’s pockets and peer into their cars with this bill, headed to the Senate Insurance committee this week,” said Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog. “It would allow insurance companies to require drivers to install ‘spyware’ in their cars that tracks speed, acceleration, location, time of day, mileage and other data. Under the legislation, consumers who refuse to give up their privacy would pay higher rates.”

Sponsors say the bill would encourage motorists to drive less by lowering insurance rates for lower mileage and it would also give discounts to drivers who put black box technology in their cars. “Insurers want to know where we drive, when we drive and how long it takes us to get there, but they shouldn’t get to charge more to Californians who won’t accept their spying,” said Balber. “AB 2800 just lets insurance companies charge drivers more for refusing to let them pry in their cars.”

Oh, I get it: black boxes are OK for commercial trucks, but not consumers. It’s OK to monitor the performance of commercial truck drivers, but not the average motorist – that’s “spying.” I think ALL vehicles, tractor-trailers down to cars, should have black boxes – then we all get measured to the same highway safety standards. This legislative effort will show us if the motoring public is willing to be subject to the same black boxes they want for truckers … or if it’s a case of “do as I say, not as I do” all over again.

“Ironically, while high gas prices are encouraging more people to ride transit, rising diesel prices are also causing mass transit systems nationwide to raise fares, cut service, lay off staff, and delay capital spending. So, at a time when demand for buses and trains is at one of its highest points in history, we have transit agencies cutting back. This makes no sense.” –Warren S. George, president, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU).

There are more than a few unspoken issues in Mr. George’s comment above regarding cutbacks at mass transit agencies across the U.S. (big dollar unionized health and pension benefits, plus substantial annual cost of living pay increases, being some of them) but his overall point is very important – especially for truckers that’ve dealt with heavily congested highways in and around our major cities year after year.

We’re at a point where a massive shift is starting to take place, whereby daily commuters are abandoning their personal vehicles in favor of using buses and trains to travel from home to work and vice versa. This is a vary big deal, because it’s the removal of these daily commuters from the highways that’ll help reduce roadway congestion and cut fuel demand – which should help lower fuel prices and thus diesel costs for truckers.

Of course, like anything in life, there’s a big IF in the middle of all of this. If transit agencies can handle the increased ridership, if they can provide consistent on-time service, if commuters don’t start backsliding if the price of fuel starts to decline … if, if, if and more ifs to boot. Yet we could be poised for big changes to our transportation habits – and that could end up substantially reducing our need for imported oil.

For example, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reported that Americans took 2.6 billion trips on public transportation in the first three months of this year – almost 85 million more trips than in 2007 during the same time period.

“There’s no doubt that the high gas prices are motivating people to change their travel behavior,” said William Millar, APTA’s president. “More and more people have decided that taking public transportation is the quickest way to beat the high gas prices.”

Last year 10.3 billion trips were taken on U.S. public transportation – the highest number of trips taken in fifty years. In the first quarter of 2008, public transportation continued to climb and rose by 3.3%. In contrast, the Federal Highway Administration has reported that the vehicle miles traveled on our nation’s roads declined by 2.3% in the first quarter this year, APTA reported.

The problem is that the cost to operate transit systems nationwide is exploding as well – driven by the same fuel price spikes that are leading to heavier ridership. The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) noted that transit agencies are paying 44% more for fuel now versus last year and want the U.S. Congress to pass legislation providing transit systems with funds to help offset the high cost of fuel. “Transit needs to be part of the solution – not the victim – of high gas prices,” stated ATU’s George.

He believes that would be extra money well spent, too. ATU’s analysis indicates that if Americans used public transportation for roughly 10% of their daily travel needs, the U.S. would reduce its dependence on imported oil by more than 40% — nearly the amount of oil the U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia each year. In fact, increased use of public transportation is the single most effective way to reduce America’s energy consumption, he believes.

But without help from the federal government, service cuts and fare increases will continue. “Between the price of fuel, food, and health care, working families are getting squeezed like never before,” noted George. “People are looking to transit for relief. The last things they need are fare increases and service cuts to make their lives more difficult. Congress needs to provide the resources necessary to keep these systems operating at maximum capacity and subsidizing transit fuel costs to move millions of people more efficiently just makes sense.”

And public transportation providers consume a lot of fuel – more than 760 million gallons of diesel and gasoline annually, according to APTA’s research. And for every penny added to the cost of diesel and gasoline, public transportation providers face an increased cost of more than $7.6 million dollars.

“A penny increase in diesel and gasoline costs would add more than $5.4 million to the cost of bus operations nationwide,” noted APTA’s Millar. “ Based on the current national average fare revenue of 89 cents per unlinked bus trip, agencies would need to add more 6 million trips on an annual basis to recover just a penny increase. An increase in fuel cost of $1 per gallon would require that agencies carry more than 600 million additional passenger trips per year, on bus services alone; an increase of more than 10 percent over current bus ridership levels. Such an increase would no doubt require additional services, and additional operating costs, so it’s easy to see why agencies are struggling to meet surging fuel costs.”

Is offering more subsidies to public transit the best way to go? Maybe, maybe not. One thing is for certain, however – the more people off the road means less congestion and delay for truckers. And that is a good thing.

“This was a much darker film than what I set out to make, but I wanted to show what trucking is really like. And I knew it was a success when truck drivers came up to me after seeing and said ‘that’s the real deal.’” –Doug Pray, the director of “Big Rig.”

Point of full disclosure here before we get started: I love movies, especially documentaries. I’ll sit back and watch Ken Burns’ legendary epic “The Civil War” for hours, even view those ghastly “Rock & Roll” documentaries on VH1 when they come on the tube. So getting a chance to talk with Doug Pray, the director of instant documentary classics such as Surfwise (made last year about the legendary Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz and his family) and Hype (released in 1996 about the Seattle grunge music scene) is like winning the lottery for me.

Pray also just made a documentary about trucking called “Big Rig,” a film now available on DVD and one that’s going on a “summer tour” of sorts today, being shown at 25 TA/Petro truck stops starting in Foristell, MO and wrapping up in El Paso, TX, on August 14. Pray and his producer, Brad Blondheim, and an assistant spent months out on the road in two-week blocks, traveling 21,000 miles across 45 states and dozens of truck stops to film independent owner-operators at work: delving deeply into their lives, personal struggles, and above all their love of truck driving.

“We spent days in truck stops pitching what we were doing to drivers, and most of them were shocked we were making a documentary about them,” Pray told me. “They were like, ‘why the hell do you want to make a movie about truck drivers?’ But it’s a subculture that’s always fascinated me. I loved ‘truck driver’ songs, loved the truck driver movies of the 1970s, so I really wanted to see what it was like.”

He knew his naïve and boyish “Smokey & The Bandit” perception of the industry wouldn’t hold up under the cold light of his camera lens. What Pray didn’t expect to learn was just how hard it is to making a living in trucking today, how the commonly held stereotypes about truck drivers are miles and miles from reality, and most of all how truly sad the “old timers” are about how this industry has changed.

“The drivers that have been out here for a decade or more, the ones with 1 million or 3 million miles under their belt, they are the ones that are the saddest,” Pray said. “They remembered how drivers used to be a close-knit community, how they used to be viewed as heroes of the highway, how it used to be so much fun to drive a truck for a living. While they still love driving trucks and seeing this huge, amazing country of ours, they now deal daily with a culture of disrespect. ‘We used to be a family’ one driver told me. It’s not like that anymore.”

The days are long, fuel prices are out of sight, and the pay doesn’t begin to cover the needs of most of the independents Pray talked to. “Now, I realize our film is slanted that way in part because I didn’t get to talk and film company drivers, or ones working in more profitable segments such as car haulers,” he explained. “But what truly shocked me is how much we rely on trucks to keep this country functioning, yet we treat drivers and the industry so poorly. We completely depend on them, yet we treat them like dirt.”

Pray quickly stressed to me that he did not approach making this film with an agenda in mind. His modus operandi was simple – find subjects willing to talk, to let him and his assistant ride shotgun in their truck as they discussed whatever happened to be on their mind. When the interviews ended, Blondheim – following them in an RV – would pick the team up and they’d go shoot exteriors, scenic vistas, etc., until they found another subject willing to talk on camera for a while.

“We got kicked out of a lot of truck stops, let me tell you,” Pray told me. “And it would have been a very different film if we just followed one character around for a month. But I just love the way this project turned out – the meandering, almost random journey we take with these drivers is just great.”

His cameras follow Jessie, a Mississippi driver who is battling Graves disease while his son fights in Iraq; Loretta, a mother from Ohio who carries a concealed weapon in her cab for fear of truck stop violence; Ron, a native-American who uses his 18-wheeler to visit tribes throughout the country while delivering vinyl; and Bear, an Idaho steel-driver whose love of country has him wanting to overhaul the government, to name a few. All of them are fiercely independent souls who, as one young driver says, “represent the last of the spirit of the American cowboy… it’s a dying breed out there.”

(Big Bear at the wheel, with his canine companions by his side.)

Screen Media Films is releasing Big Rig, with financing by international sales company, Ocule Films. The movie runs about an hour and a half and features a musical score by Canadian hip-hop artist Buck 65. Brad Blondheim produced it, along with executive producers Kirt Eftekhar and Randy Wooten.

The “Big Rig Summer Tour 2008” will be presented by Sirius Satellite Radio’s Road Dog Trucking Radio, and the DVD also contains a short documentary about the Freewheelin’ with Meredith Ochs and Chris T. radio program.

“The main thing drivers tell me about this movie is that they feel they’re being portrayed honestly for the first time,” Pray told me. “And non-drivers that see this movie tell me the feel very different about trucks and truckers afterwards, that they don’t look at tractor-trailers as just big ‘boxes’ on the road anymore. I don’t sugarcoat anything; I feel it’s an honest a portrayal of this industry and its people. The main thing for me was to be a conduit for their stories. It truly was a great and fun experience for me.”

So, with all the bad news out there — high diesel prices, a slumping economy, war, famine, the never-ending Democratic primary slugfest, you get the idea — I figured that for today I’d just share another music video clip … just something to keep our heads up under the barrage of negative news everywhere.

Yes, I know it’s ironic to use Blackfoot’s classic southern anthem “Train, train” for a trucking video … but, hey, that song rocks! The band — a contemporary of Lynyrd Skynyrd — has reunited and is touring again, so check them out if you’re a fan of this style of music.

You’ll also catch a glimpse of the one and only David Kolman, a longtime trucking industry veteran and editor of our sister publication Refrigerated Transporter — definitely one the funniest editors you’ll ever meet on the trucking beat.

“U.S. consumption of liquid fuels and other petroleum [products] are expected to decline in 2008 by about 190,000 barrels per day as a result of the economic slowdown and high petroleum prices.” –from the Energy Information Administration’s short-term energy outlook published May 6.

With diesel fuel at over four dollars a gallon throughout much of the U.S. – hitting the $5 mark in California – and gasoline pricing not far behind, it would seem a big stretch to even bring up the term “silver lining.” Yet besides record-setting pump and oil prices (which closed above the $128 per barrel mark yesterday) there’s another statistic to consider as well – the first reduction in U.S. imports in 30 years.

(Photo courtesy of the Penn Jersey Truckstop)

True, the drop is pretty small: According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. imported 57.9% of its oil in the first quarter this year, down from 58.2% over the same period in 2007. Yet that 3/10ths of 1% marks the first time since 1977 that this country reduced oil imports – due largely to high prices and the current U.S. economic slump, but also to the rising use of ethanol, biodiesel and other biofuel products, along with higher average vehicle fuel economy, noted Guy Caruso, the EIA’s administrator.

Caruso’s agency also recorded these statistics: while world oil consumption is projected to grow by 1.2 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2008, after accounting for increased ethanol use, U.S. petroleum consumption is projected to fall by 330,000 bbl/d this year. By 2015, if these trend lines hold, the EIA projects U.S. petroleum imports could drop to 50% of all oil consumed.

I know, I know: none of this provides much relief to the wallets of truckers rapidly being emptied at the refueling island. And the way things are shaping up, truckers should expect to keep paying some steep prices for diesel in the coming months.

(Photo courtesy of Petro Stopping Centers.)

“The oil supply system continues to operate at near capacity and remains vulnerable to both actual and perceived supply disruptions,” said the EIA last week. “The supply and demand balance for the remainder of the year is tighter. World oil markets are particularly tight during the first half of 2008, with year-over-year growth in world oil consumption outstripping growth in non-Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production by over 1 million bbl/d. The combination of rising global demand, fairly normal seasonal inventory patterns, slow gains in non-OPEC supply, and low levels of available surplus production capacity is providing firm support for prices. The flow of investment money into commodities markets and ongoing geopolitical concerns in a number of producing countries, including Nigeria, Iraq, and Venezuela, have contributed to crude oil price volatility.”

However, consider these numbers, gleaned from Jim Angel and Fred Hammer’s recent presentation at the National Private Truck Council’s (NPTC) annual convention last month: In 2007, the total cost of diesel fuel used to move freight totaled $112.5 billion for the trucking industry … yet shippers paid over $65 billion in fuel surcharges last year.

That meant truckers paid out $47.5 billion for fuel, which is lower than the $53 billion it shelled out for fuel in 2003. It’s not cause for a party (for $47-plus billion out of pocket is a wallop on the bottom line no matter how you look at it) but it’s easier than footing a nearly $113 billion tab let me tell you.

Fred Hammer, corporate transportation manager for Shopko Stores – a grocery chain based out of Wisconsin that operates 38 tractors and 400 trailers – also noted that high prices are driving fuel conservation efforts like never before at his fleet and many, many others. By really focusing on a broad fuel savings strategy – which includes efforts to reduce deadhead miles, analyze vehicle performance to boost miles per gallon and decrease idle time, offer drivers incentives to reduce fuel consumption, plus cut down out of route miles and boost vehicle productivity, Shopko cut its fuel expenditures by 9.5%. If fleets continue to reduce fuel consumption metrics like this across the industry, oil imports – especially from nations hostile to us such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Venezuela – will continue to fall.

Of course, there’s also a lot of speculation going on in the global oil market right now, too, not unlike what happened in the U.S. housing market, which is adding to the big price increases we’re seeing. If that bubble collapses, leading to oil pricing drops and thus lower fuel costs, we need to make certain we don’t revert to our oil, fuel-guzzling ways. The EIA, for example, predicts that we will return to slurping behavior, as it believe by 2030 imports will make up 54% of all the oil the U.S. consumes, despite falling to 50% in 2015. We must make sure that once we pass the fuel spikes of today, we don’t end up back in the same old habits tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.

“It looks like a war zone. Some homes have fallen in, some homes have lost roofs and some are now just slabs.” –Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, as quoted by CNN.

So here we are, dealing with diesel prices up over $4 a gallon in the U.S. (in some places nearing $5 a gallon), a sluggish freight environment, a housing crisis, a weak dollar, and $9.5 trillion worth of debt racked up by the federal government. Fleets are also watching health care costs explode, their employees’ 401 K retirement funds drop in value, and insurance costs cthat keep spiraling upward.

Yet that’s only all the manmade stuff. Mother Nature is still out there, of course, always ready to land a real heavy-duty sucker punch.

(Formation of a tornado funnel cloud — a sight you NEVER want to see up close …)

I got a big reminder about that this weekend after six inches worth of rain dumped on Fairfax County, VA, turned my basement into something resembling the tidal flats out at the Chesapeake Bay. Sheets of water, accompanied by mud and silt, forced itself through over-saturated clay soil, through our cinderblock foundation, and then into our nice (if old fashion) basement. Say, goodbye, wall-to-wall carpeting: we only knew you less than seven months. Not sure if we’ll ever see your like again down here, either.

Frantically running around bailing water by the minute while hoisting computers, wires, and other perishable gear high above the lapping liquid, I couldn’t help but realize I had it easy. This same storm system clawed its way first through Oklahoma, Missouri, and Georgia, touching off tornadoes and killing at least 22 people … so far. Thousands of homes are gone – no worries about basement clean up there. They don’t even have family photo albums anymore, ripped to pieces by the high-pitched winds. (Oh, but don’t you worry: the banks will still demand their mortgage payments, even though the houses they are for don’t exist anymore.)

Truckers are having are hard time of it, as well, with roads flooded out or closed due to falling trees, along with the ghastly irritation of traffic signals gone dark and useless. The whole Northern Virginia area is being choked by worse-than-usual traffic this morning, due to all of those issues and more.

(Trucking in the rain isn’t fun … to say the least.)

Yet this is light stuff, compared to what’s in Mother Nature’s arsenal. It’s not even hurricane season yet, nor have the conditions for wildfires out west ripened, nor twister time really kicked off across the plains. Drought plagued my neck of the woods the last three years – now we’re soaked with too much rain, tripping off floods of all sizes and shapes.

Look what happened in Burma and China, too. A cyclone roared in from the Pacific killing over 100,000 people in Burma last week, while an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale left a widespread path of destruction and death in its wake across much of central China.

And the real clincher is that all of this damage happens so FAST! Earthquakes, storms, and the like roar up and wreak havoc, causing damage that takes months if not years to repair, in little more than a few hours time. It’s frustrating and frightening all at the same time.

(Pike Electric crews getting ready to help Oklahoma recover from storm damage.)

Then again, what can you do? The mess never gets cleaned up by itself, does it? So, once I file this story, me and my puny two-gallon Craftsman wet/dry vacuum are going to be headed back to work … while keeping one eye on the Weather Channel, just in case Mother Nature might try to uncork another haymaker before the day is done.

“The cat has too much spirit to have no heart.” –Ernest Menaul

For years, I’d always thought dogs were a trucker’s best friend – a view borne out by the many different canines I’ve met over the years riding shotgun with drivers. Yet this year at the Mid America Trucking Show, I got an eye-opener of sorts as I stumbled upon quite a few trucks that were homes away from home for plenty of cats.

(Pee Wee, perched high in the cab for a great view of the road.)

Shaun Flowers, a driver for Roady Trucking of Marysville, Kansas, introduced me to his feline highway companion, sporting the handle “Pee Wee” and resting comfortably on the dashboard. “He’s been with me for three years and goes everywhere I go,” Shaun told me. “Best thing is, I don’t have to stop and take him for a walk.”

(Pee Wee is ALWAYS ready for a close up.)

But it’s more than that, of course. Cats are very different from dogs psychologically as well as physically, content to seek out affection from humans when they need it, then quick to saunter off for a nap or ritual fur cleaning without so much as a backward glance. I know this for a fact, having spent the last 12 years in the company Woody, our resident grey tabby feline.

(The indefatigable Woodrow Wilson Kilcarr the First.)

This isn’t to denigrate the stalwart canine companion in any way, shape or form, I stress! In all honesty, I was a dog person my whole life, growing up with a wide variety of breeds, from cocker spaniels and a Collie-German Shepard mix to outright mutts. (We had three dogs at one point – meaning I probably qualify as a “Redneck” according to some of the rules laid down by the great Jeff Foxworthy). I spent countless hours in their fine company and at some point still plan to bring a Chocolate Labrador into my home

Yet cats – especially those that like to display their social skills – are more than great companions at home and on the road. They provide to us humans comfort, unquestioning friendship, and probably best of all a calming influence. After many a long day, I can tell you, there’s nothing like sitting down with a cup of hot chocolate and Sir Woody by my side, his rhythmic purrs leaching away the stress in large chunks.

(A whole gaggle of cats finds this trucker’s dashboard a fine place to keep warm.)

That soothing presence is a great boon to me, as well as to truckers plying the long highways day after countless day.

“Continuous improvement is the name of the game.” –Gary Petty, president and CEO, National Private Truck Council

We all know it’s a challenging time for the trucking industry, whether you operate 10 or 1,000 trucks, whether you are a for-hire or private carrier. That reality got serious acknowledgement at the National Private Truck Council (NPTC) annual conference in Cincinnati, OH, this week.

(The show floor at NPTC’s annual convention, held in Cincinnati this year.)

The 900 or so attendees all worried about the impact of sky-high diesel fuel prices on their businesses – then expressed further concern about finding and keeping drivers, getting more productivity out of their existing assets, managing equipment costs better, and on and on.

“Many of you are also going through fleet justifications – a ‘re-evaluation’ of the private fleet within your company’s business,” noted Gary Petty, NPTC’s president and CEO, during his keynote speech. “That’s why events like these, where you can share ideas and network with your peers, is so critical. For you never know when an idea may be found to help solve a problem your company faces.”

(Gary Petty, NPTC’s president and CEO, is on the right. That’s Dan Baker on the left, trucking consultant and motivational speaker.)

A lot of ideas and information-gathering projects are getting up a head of steam at NPTC, ones geared to help the industry as a whole improve across a range of areas. First, the group is looking to add a dozen or so carriers to the 125 fleets already participating in its benchmarking study, so private fleets can compare themselves against the industry leaders to see where they can make improvements.

Petty mentioned that NPTC is also going to take a fresh look at the size and weight issue ahead of the next highway funding reauthorization bill, funding a study with the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) to see if larger trucks carrying 97,000 lbs. versus today’s 80,000-lb. limit can reduce the number of trucks on the road and thus reduce energy consumption. NPTC is looking for six carriers to participate in this study, Petty added.

“We’re going to try and scientifically establish gains in productivity plus more effective use of highways and bridges via this study, which should start this may and end in September,” he said. “We believe it will be an important contribution to public policy.”

NPTC is also going to redouble its focus on the truck driver community as it looks to expand current driver recognition efforts. That includes the creation of an “All-Stars” program in Sept. 2009 (based on safety data compiled this year) where drivers will be nominated based on customer service, personal appearance, cleanliness of equipment, on-time delivery rates, as well as safety. “These non-driving functions are so critical to the private fleet’s function today and deserve recognition,” Petty said.

(Robert Boyich of CPC Logistics took home an award from FleetOwner for being the top gradutate in NPTC’s Certified Transportation Professional program for 2008.)

Finally, NPTC is forging a new relationship with third-party logistics provider C.H. Robinson, to provide NPTC member fleets with access to pools of backhaul freight nationwide. Called “Fleet Optimizer,” Petty said the program seeks to reduce the average 28% of deadhead miles private carriers log every year by giving them access to consistent freight volume in lanes they already cover.

(Many suppliers at NPTC’s convention used tricked out trucks as part of their exhibit displays.)

“We already work with private fleets – this program formalizes and expands that effort,” Eric Jax, branch manager for C.H. Robinson’s national carrier group, told me at the show. “Private carriers not only have consistent capacity on dedicated routes, they have the kinds of drivers and focus on safety and professionalism we look for. We are always looking to build more consistent capacity and we plan to begin ramping up this program over the next several months.”

So despite the challenges now engulfing the trucking industry as a whole, private fleets and the association that represents them, aren’t standing still – their mapping new courses to help improve their business models.

“We need to let the world know our value,” said Petty. “They need to know how we help our nation keep rolling.”

“West Virginia spends more than $1 million annually to remove litter from state highways.” –West Virginia Department of Transportation annual report

So another Earth Day has come and gone, with lots of opinion pieces in newspapers about the threat of Global Warming, increasing vehicle fuel economy standards, and the inevitable plethora of rock and roll concerts designed to “raise the consciousness” about the many environmental issues facing our little planet.

Pardon me if I sound so very cynical about all this. We go on, and on, AND ON about how to solve any number of issues – reducing energy consumption, decreasing pollution, etc. – that usually involve billions of dollars and decades to realize. But here’s a simple one we can do right now — in fact, this instant:

PICK UP THE $#&*! TRASH THAT’S ALL OVER THE PLACE!

I mean, come on people! We spend about $115 million a YEAR in this country just picking up all the litter dumped on the side of our highways! According to the good folks at the West Virginia Department of Transportation, an average two-mile stretch of highway contains 32,000 pieces of trash! And all this stuff ends of choking creeks, streams and rivers, plus killing all sorts of wildlife, from fish to birds.

(Courtesy of the Sierra Club)

Here’s another factoid: During a one-time sweep of Interstate 35W in Minneapolis, Adopt-a-Highway volunteers picked up 192 tons of trash in one day. The quantity filled 16 Minnesota Department of Transportation tandem trucks, representing approximately 6,000 filled trash bags.

I mean, you’d think that all those “green-niks” in Hollywood could get off their high horse about buying “carbon offsets” and actually DO something PRODUCTIVE, like maybe pick up and recycle the trash from all the swag they get at award shows every year.

Look, municipalities in the U.S. generate some 251 million tons of trash (before recycling) per year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or about 4.6 pounds per person per day. Compare that to the 88.1 million ton generated in the U.S. back in 1960 – roughly 2.7 pounds per person per day – and you can quickly see why trash is a big issue.

(I am also still waiting for a legislature or governor somewhere to step up and claim the cigarette butt as its state flower. There’s just so many of the freaking things all over the place – and here I thought smoking was on the way out!)

One reason we still have so much trash around is that we aren’t recycling a whole lot of it. In 2006, the recycling rate was 32.5%, with 81.8 million tons of materials recycled, according to the EPA’s numbers. That’s better than the 6.4% rate back in 1960, but still not great. Chief among materials recycled today are automotive batteries (99%), steel cans (62.9%), yard trimmings (62%) paper and paperboard (51.6%), plus aluminum beer and aoft drink cans (45.1%). At the bottom are tires (34.9%), plastic soft drink bottles (30.9%), HDPE milk and water bottles (31%), and glass containers (25.3%).

(Local volunteers conducting highway clean up in Missouri.)

Reducing trash production is also not only an easy thing to do – requiring very little beaurecratic mumbo jumbo (one hopes and prays) – it also generates an immediate environmental return. For example, each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, three cubic yards of landfill space and 4,000 kilowatts of energy.

(By the way, more on how trucking companies are reducing their use of paper in all sorts of creative ways – saving big bucks while being green – in a future blog post.)

(Where the trash SHOULD go. Kudos to companies like American Waste for the job they do every day.)

So how about we put the carbon offset boondoggle, free rock concerts, and op-eds on the shelf for a while and get down to just cleaning up our neck of the woods in the good old U.S.A. Just cleaning up the trash would really improve the environment quickly without all that much effort on our part.