Drilling Deep: Trucking begins to push back against vaccine mandate

Also on the podcast: The growing tie between high natural gas prices and what you’re paying for diesel

Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

Dave Heller is the vice president for governmental affairs at the Truckload Carriers Association. In that role, he is deeply involved in the trucking industry’s reaction to the looming vaccination mandate coming out of the Biden administration.

At the recent annual meeting of the American Trucking Associations, Heller sat down with Drilling Deep host John Kingston to talk about that battle in Washington and how it might play out.

Also on the podcast, Kingston discusses how the rising price of natural gas, particularly in other parts of the world, is impacting diesel prices.

More articles by John Kingston

Drilling Deep: Using a helper if Amazon is fulfilling your shipments

Drilling Deep: the decision to add a truckload terminal can be complicated

Drilling Deep: the good times roll for independent owner operators

Upcoming FreightWaves Events
AI

Supply Chain AI Symposium

Past the hype. Join operators, founders, and enterprise leaders figuring out how to deploy AI in supply chain.

July 15, 2026
The Old Post • Chicago, IL
Register Now
FreightTech

F3: Future of Freight Festival

Industry-defining keynotes, rapid-fire technology demos, and industry leaders networking in experiences across Chattanooga - plus the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner featuring the FreightTech and Shipper of Choice reveals.

October 27, 2026 – October 28, 2026
The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN
Register Now
AI Supply Chain AI Symposium Jul 15 • The Old Post • Chicago, IL

Past the hype. Join operators, founders, and enterprise leaders figuring out how to deploy AI in supply chain.

The Old Post • Chicago, IL Register Now
FreightTech F3: Future of Freight Festival Oct 27 – Oct 28 • The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN

Industry-defining keynotes, rapid-fire technology demos, and industry leaders networking in experiences across Chattanooga - plus the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner featuring the FreightTech and Shipper of Choice reveals.

The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN Register Now

John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.