Truckers rally near I-5 to protest fuel prices

By Jim Szymanski | The Olympian • Published April 11, 2008

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NAPAVINE – Independent truckers staged a daylong gasoline boycott here Friday to call attention to the financial squeeze placed on their businesses by rising fuel prices.

About 60 trucks were parked near an Interstate 5 exit in Lewis County by mid-afternoon.

"I thought we'd have a lot more, but I'm not disappointed," said organizer Sherrie Bond, who owns a Chehalis log truck company. "We're going to do this again, probably on the Memorial Day weekend."

The Northwest Log Truckers Cooperative, of which Bond is a director, wants Congress to push for releasing gasoline reserves to reduce or contain prices. On Friday, diesel fuel in the Olympia area was selling for $4.20 a gallon, a record. Friday's price for diesel was up $1.16 from a year ago, according to AAA Washington.

"You work just to pay for fuel anymore," said Centralia log-truck driver James Springer. He said that with diesel selling for $4.19 a gallon Friday in Chehalis, it would cost him up to $419 to fill the tanks on his truck.

Springer said that after paying for fuel, he could make $200-a-day hauling logs between Washington and Oregon, but his profits are threatened by maintenance costs.

"You lose a motor, and that's ten grand right there," he said.

Former logger and former Grant County Sheriff Bill Wiester, who attended the protest, said high fuel prices affect more than truckers.

"You know how they pass down prices for milk and meat?" he said. "Everybody gets hurt."

Ken Rollins, who owns one log truck, estimated that fuel expenses now amount to about 60 percent of the total expense of operating the hauling business. After paying wages, insurance and maintenance on the truck, many truck owners struggle to make money, Rollins said.

"If you're lucky, you put fifty to a hundred dollars a day in your pocket," he said.

Wiester, 82, said he could remember times when a quarter bought a gallon of gasoline. He said that at nearly 17 times the price these days for fuel and truck tires that can cost $300 apiece, "it's not a pretty picture."

Jim Szymanski is business editor for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-357-0748 or jszymanski@theolympian.com.