Windward Petroleum Inc. is continuing its rapid growth, announcing last week that it has purchased lubricant distributorships based in Oklahoma City, Okla., and Lawrenceburg, Tenn. Windward, of Charlotte, N.C., was founded just four years ago and now claims to be one of the largest lube distributors in the country, with annual sales of $150 million and more than 300 employees. The latest acquisitions are its tenth and eleventh since January 1999. The Oklahoma City acquisition, Commercial Distrib...

U.S. Oil Co. recently agreed to pay a $100,000 fine to settle a 10-year-old case brought by state regulators over an oil spill at its Kimberly, Wis., lubricant plant. The company, based in Combined Locks, Wis., will pay the minimum fine for such a case, as state officials noted that U.S. Oil has begun cleaning up the site and promised to continue. But an official with the state Department of Natural Resources added that the case was only designated for penalty after the company put off remediati...

The American Trucking Association has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to delay a mandate requiring new diesel engines to pollute less beginning in October. In a June 19 petition, the association argued that new studies show that equipment needed to meet the standards would cost much more to buy and operate than EPA estimated, and that engines outfitted with them would be so unreliable as to threaten the nations economy. The engines’ reliability will be especially threatened,...