The director of North Dakota's state fleet says at the halfway point of the two-year budget cycle, half his budget remains. But Paul Hanson he never expected gasoline to cost $4 a gallon.

The state fleet consists of about 3,200 state-owned cars and trucks. It's a division of the state Transportation Department.

Hanson says his division has been trying to conserve. He expects more meetings will be held through interactive television to cut back on travel, and he's urging state workers to slow down a little.

Hanson says some of the vehicles are using biodiesel fuel. He says 450 vehicles in the fleet use an E-85 fuel blend, and he's testing a handful of so-called "flex-fuel" vehicles.

- Associated Press