Soaring
are rippling through the U.S. economy, putting a financial squeeze on schools, farmers and small businesses as their fuel costs spike.
asserted
costs → soar → schools
Average diesel prices hovered around $6.50 a gallon on Friday, just below their record high of $6.53 on Sept. 22 and up from $3.69 a year ago, according to AAA.
uncertain
prices → hover → AAA
That jump is raising the cost of operating school buses and forcing some institutions to scramble for ways to cut costs.
asserted
jump → raise → costs
Farmers, who rely on diesel to run agricultural machinery, also face sharply higher costs, while enterprises ranging from construction firms to food banks report sharply higher expenses to fuel their vehicles and delivery trucks.
asserted
enterprises → rely → vehicles
One Georgia food bank said it will spend an extra $100,000 this year on diesel, money that otherwise would have gone to feed families.
asserted
that → say → families
"That would actually translate to about 122,000 meals that we would be able to provide if we didn't have to spend that on unexpected diesel fuel prices," Kenneth Hill, the supply chain officer for the Atlanta Community Food Bank, told
.Georgia
asserted
Hill → translate → Bank
diesel prices averaged $6.32 a gallon on Friday, up from $3.54 a year ago, according to AAA.
uncertain
prices → average → AAA
Ranchers are feeling the pinch due to their reliance on diesel-powered trucks to check on herds and water pumps, said Andrew Coppin, CEO of Ranchbot, which sells remote monitoring technology for water pumps and other equipment.
asserted
which → feel → pumps
"Outside of labor, diesel is the single biggest input into a lot of farming operations, so it's a very material increase in the cost of operations," he told CBS News, noting that his company has seen a major increase in inquiries from ranchers due to surging diesel prices.
asserted
company → tell → prices
"If it's an F-250, a Ram 2500 or a Silverado, we're talking 1-ton diesel trucks, and on a good day they are getting 12 miles to a gallon.
asserted
they → talk → gallon
"
Diesel's impact on inflation
Diesel is widely used in commercial trucking, agriculture, and construction, and rising prices can increase the cost of transporting goods across the country.
asserted
prices → use → country
Gasoline prices have also soared, although not as much as diesel, which is facing a global shortage due to shipping and refining disruptions stemming from the Iran and Russia-Ukraine wars.
asserted
which → soar → wars
As a result, economists warn that the spike in diesel costs could fan inflation, which rose in August at an
, up from 2.4% at the beginning of 2026.Inflation could jump to 3.6% by year-end due to the rise in fuel prices, according to EY-Parthenon chief economist Gregory Daco.
uncertain
which → warn → Daco
"Higher domestic fuel prices feed directly into passenger and goods transportation costs, which will eventually be passed on to consumers," he said in a Sept. 23 analysis.
asserted
he → feed → analysis
Those higher costs are also being felt more broadly across local communities.
asserted
costs → feel → communities
"Certainly, when I wake up in the morning, I'm thinking about diesel," Marty Gray, owner of Gray Farms in Watseka, Illinois, told
.
asserted
Gray → wake → Watseka
"I'm thinking about the trucks running, the [grain] elevator and stuff like that."Gray
asserted
I → think → that
also said his family-owned farm is facing tight margins as harvest season gets underway.
asserted
season → say → margins
"So, we're just trying to decide do we fill up the tanks now, or do we need to wait a little bit?
asserted
we → try → tanks
Will it get better, or will it get worse?"
asserted
it → get → ?
Raptor Roll Offs, a Colorado waste management and dumpster rental business that uses diesel trucks to deliver dumpsters to and from homes and industrial sites in the Denver area, may need to pass higher fuel costs on to customers, owner George Dempsey
CBS News Denver."We're holding on as long as we can," Dempsey said.
uncertain
Dempsey → use → News
"We can't absorb it all ourselves, and so you have this trickle effect."
asserted
you → absorb → effect
Colorado diesel prices now average $6.16 per gallon, compared with $3.51 a year ago, AAA data shows.
asserted
data → average → 3.51
Colorado's Cherry Creek Schools relies on diesel to power its more than 300 buses, which transport roughly 24,000 students across the district.
asserted
which → rely → district
It's facing an additional $500,000 in diesel costs this year, pushing its total fuel budget to about $2 million — far higher than the $1.5 million it had originally budgeted, Mark Ingram, the district's director of transportation, told
Ingram said the school district is weighing consolidating some routes and scaling back certain activity trips to save fuel costs.
Would a diesel export ban help?
asserted
ban → face → costs
Some Republican lawmakers are calling for the
to lower costs.
asserted
lawmakers → call → costs
The U.S. refines more diesel than it can use domestically, with energy companies selling the remainder abroad.
asserted
companies → refine → remainder
Although an export ban might initially lower diesel costs in some U.S. regions, it could eventually backfire by worsening global shortages, according to energy experts and economists.
uncertain
it → lower → experts
That would likely send diesel prices even higher, they say.
asserted
they → send → prices
"A ban would temporarily lower prices, but short-term relief would be uneven geographically," Oxford Economics said in a report.
asserted
Economics → lower → report
"Price declines would be concentrated in the Gulf Coast and Midwest, where most refining capacity is located.
asserted
capacity → concentrate → Coast
Distillate shortages are concentrated in the Northeast and West Coast, and these regions would see little benefit from an export ban."
asserted
regions → concentrate → ban
The Aporia
