I think the reaction is caused by the fact that the population seems to love banning things they don't like, there are ways to prevent spills as much as possible and it has been noted here that all the fuels we use will affect asphalt, what makes the difference is the temperature of the surface and how long it has been there, we don't really see much damage caused to our asphalt at our field but the asphalt in the pits has been there a long time.
My relatively new drive at home was damaged by kerosene though
clearly the hobby is not going to ban diesel, they don't have the authority for one, if you guys are having an issue at your field then maybe you should ban it there and then you could come here with a note about the damage it can cause but to try to outright ban a fuel that many rely on either for convenience or economics is ridiculous.