Truckers should be allowed to fall back on illegal, polluting fuel during a fuel shortage caused by an Ontario refinery fire, the province's trucking association says.

The Ontario Trucking Association issued a written plea to federal Environment Minister John Baird Wednesday night, asking for permission to temporarily use diesel fuel with 500 parts per million sulphur content that was banned in October. Current regulations require the sulphur content to be 15 ppm or less.

Diesel prices jumped from 83 cents a litre to almost 92 overnight between Wednesday and Thursday at this Arnprior, Ont., truck fuelling station.
(CBC)

The dirtier fuel can still be used in trains, agriculture machinery and other off-road vehicles.

Diesel shortages have been reported in northern Ontario and along the Trans-Canada Highway between Montreal and Toronto, and the trucking association said fuel prices have jumped up to 20 per cent in the past few days.

"Should the current situation persist or get worse, the impact on the Ontario economy could be enormous," said association president David Bradley in a statement issued Thursday.

Trucker Bob Sadler echoed those concerns while fuelling up in Arnprior, Ont., Thursday en route to Chicago, Ill., at a station where prices jumped from 83 to almost 92 cents a litre between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Trucker Bob Sadler said consumer products may not reach local shelves if Ontario doesn't solve its fuel shortage problem soon.
(CBC)

"Somebody's got to bring the coffee to the store," Sadler said, adding that groceries aren't naturally found on supermarket shelves. "It comes in these trucks. If there's no fuel, the stuff ain't going to be there, so somebody better get this fuel thing sorted out pretty quick."

Meanwhile, several Ottawa region Esso stations, which are supplied by their parent company, Imperial Oil, reported Friday that they had run out of fuel. Gas stations in Toronto, London and other parts of southwestern Ontario started running out earlier this week.

Since a fire broke out in the crude processing unit of Imperial Oil's Nanticoke, Ont., refinery on Feb. 15, the plant has been processing far less than its usual 118,000 barrels of fuel a day, which has been blamed as a major contributor to the fuel shortage.