ALEA: Red Diesel Checks Paused, Safety Checks Continue
Alabama troopers will skip dyed-fuel checks through Jan. 22 and account for lingering dye when enforcement resumes
TL;DR: ALEA is pausing red diesel checks in commercial vehicles while continuing safety inspections. Officers will account for leftover dye when enforcement resumes.
Alabama troopers will not check commercial vehicle fuel tanks for red-dyed diesel during the State’s enforcement pause. Safety inspections will continue.
“We want to make sure people are going to be able to take full advantage of this and they’re getting the relief that they need, but we’re going to continue to go out and enforce what we need to make sure they’re being safe as well,” said Colonel Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, according to WSFA.
Burkett said inspections remain at troopers’ discretion. When dyed-fuel enforcement resumes, officers will account for red dye that may linger in tanks after drivers switch back to regular highway diesel. Alabama’s pause runs through Jan. 22, 2027.
Governor Kay Ivey ordered the 120-day enforcement shift Sept. 24 to help farmers and timber crews facing high fuel costs during harvest season. Her directive focuses ALEA on road safety rather than dyed-fuel checks. It changes enforcement priorities, not tax law.
Red diesel is ordinary diesel marked with dye for tax-exempt, off-road uses, including farm and logging equipment. President Donald Trump has since moved to ease federal restrictions on its highway use.
Trump’s Oct. 5 Executive Order directs Treasury to provide penalty relief through Dec. 31 and determine whether federal fuel-tax payments can be deferred. A deferral delays the bill; it does not erase it. The order also calls for ways to forgive those taxes. The federal relief period ends before Alabama’s enforcement pause.
