Red-dyed diesel: What is it, and can you use the tax-free fuel?
The Hill · C · trust 57/100
Comments: by Addy Bink - 10/06/26 12:13 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Addy Bink - 10/06/26 12:13 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING (NEXSTAR) – Diesel prices have been high as of late, prompting President Trump to announce new efforts to lower costs on Monday.
As expected, those efforts included expanding access to red-dyed diesel. It should, in theory, be more affordable, but it isn’t quite that simple. It may also not have the largest impact, experts warn.
Here’s what to know about the diesel, including whether or not your vehicle can use it.
Simply put, it’s diesel with red dye added.
The dye is meant to indicate that the fuel is exempt from state excise taxes and the 24.4-cents-per-gallon federal tax. The coloring also helps “law enforcement ... identify it to enforce penalties and back taxes for on-road use,” a fact sheet from the White House explains.
Sure, if you operate a vehicle that runs on diesel.
Red-dyed fuel is already available to farmers, for example, who use it for off-road use, explains Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy, a platform that monitors national gasoline and diesel prices.
Other uses, like in construction equipment, marine vessels and generators, may require a license , according to the Washington State Department of Licensing.
The newest push by Trump is meant to expand the fuel to truck drivers and those operating diesel vehicles. However, De Haan noted that “most major truck stops don’t sell dyed diesel.”
It’s unclear whether red-dyed diesel would expand to more fueling stations.
C NRG Fleet, a commercial fuel card company, does offer a map of stations that sell dyed diesel. It includes stations in nearly every state. Lacking locations are Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Another map of off-road diesel locations from the Commercial Fueling Network does, however, include locations in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
In essence, yes. If you no longer have to pay a tax on the fuel, the price should go down.
Trump said Monday that a “typical trucker will save more than $100 every time they fill up.”
His order, more specifically, calls for a deferral of payment “of the Federal excise tax imposed for on-road use of dyed diesel fuel for the remainder of the year without interest or penalties, and to explore pathways to eliminate the obligation to pay the deferred taxes.”
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Gulf Oil, previously told The Hill that he doesn’t expect that increasing availability of red-dyed diesel will make a significant difference in the price overall. Instead, he called it “really a cosmetic gesture.”
“This really is a Band-Aid where a tourniquet would be more appropriate.”
De Haan shared similar remarks on X on Monday.
“States have their own dyed diesel laws, and an [executive] order can’t override them,” he explained in a thread . North Dakota , for example, has a tax of 4 cents per gallon on dyed diesel.
Late last month, Texas expanded the use of dyed diesel for on-road use for truckers and farmers, Nexstar’s KXAN reported. Indiana made a similar move last week, suspending restrictions for agriculture and timber harvesting operations on its roads, according to Nexstar’s WEHT. Other states to take action regarding dyed diesel lately include Oklahoma , North Dakota , North Carolina , Nebraska , Missouri , Louisiana , Arkansas , and Alabama .
De Haan further noted that guidance from the White House suggested the tax is “‘deferred,’ not eliminated.”
He also said last week that supply is the problem, not taxes, when it comes to diesel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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