October 1, 2001

SIGMA CONVENTION IN SEATTLE: PLAN NOW TO ATTEND!

SIGMA’s Board of Directors met by telephone conference call last Friday to consider plans for the SIGMA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Nov. 10-12. Contract provisions with the hotel gave SIGMA a wide range of options, including moving the meeting to another city. The leadership felt it was prudent to consider all the options, in light of changed circumstances since Sept. 11.

After careful consideration, the Board concluded that nothing in the past month negated the reasons Seattle had been chosen for this meeting in the first place: a great and vibrant city to meet in, with lots of nearby attractions for members and their guests, located in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. The Board voted unanimously to move forward with the meeting in Seattle as scheduled.

The Board did, however, conclude that changes in the educational schedule are warranted, to reflect the new issues on our members’ minds. Tuesday, our Information and Education Committee will begin to re-tool sessions to deal more directly with such issues as the economic outlook, “lessons learned”, disaster preparedness, security, and a particularly heavy emphasis on supply. While the topics will shift from those originally promoted, the general time frame for educational sessions will not change.

Now that the country and our members are beginning to get their lives back to something approaching “normal”, SIGMA is ready to do the same. Accordingly, the cancellation policy for the meeting – which was suspended during the days of uncertainty – will be reinstated as of Thursday, Oct. 4.

If you are not yet registered for the Seattle convention, we urge you to do so right away. This promises to be yet another great SIGMA convention, providing good networking opportunities with suppliers and fellow marketers. Great airfares are currently available, and you can still register with SIGMA at the regular rates!

MTBE BILL MOVES

Last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Smith-Reid MTBE bill, S. 950. The vote was 14 to 5 in favor, with the “no” votes coming from Inhofe (R-OK), Bond (R-MO), Voinovich (R-OH), Crapo (R-ID), and Warner (R-VA). The bill passed as introduced, with no amendments. However, that fact is somewhat misleading; even the sponsors of the bill know it cannot pass the full Senate in its present form. They have committed to work with Sen. Daschle (D-SD), the Majority Leader, to make the necessary compromises (particularly on ethanol) to make it passable before it is brought to the Senate floor.

SIGMA joined with NACS in sending a letter to committee members outlining our position on S. 950; we’ve also had a number of meetings on Capitol Hill about the bill. We support its call for a phase-out of MTBE and accept its provision of an opt-out of the oxygenate mandate as a reasonable compromise. However, we oppose elimination of the 1-pound waiver for ethanol blended conventional gasoline, and a provision allowing unclassified areas to opt into RFG. We also want changes in tank provisions.

DOT SECURITY WARNING

Last Wednesday, SIGMA obtained security guidelines issued by the Federal Highway Administration intended for dissemination in the trucking industry. The guidelines are applicable throughout our industry, but are particularly appropriate for the fuel transport part of the business. The guidelines are available on the SIGMA website at www.sigma.org. (NOTE: if we had an e-mail address for you, you would have received this notice last Wednesday. Please let us know your e-mail address so we can get information to you in a more timely fashion!)

Other federal agencies, most notably the FBI, have security concerns about hazmat hauling, including petroleum products, in relation to terrorist threats. However, thus far we do not have specific information or directions to pass on to you. We do remind you, however, that gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel were significant elements in terrorist attacks against our embassies, the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, and the World Trade Center/Pentagon respectively. Be alert and suspicious of unusual activity.

ECONOMIC STIMULUS BILL

The state of the U.S. economy, now widely feared to be in a recession, is likely to be a major focus of Congress over the next few weeks. Legislators and the Administration are working to put together an economic stimulus package that will be some combination of tax cuts, economic incentives, and labor/unemployment provisions.

It is likely that an increase in the minimum wage will be part of the package, along with other provisions supported by organized labor, in an effort to make the final vote as bipartisan as possible. SIGMA is hopeful that repeal of the Special Occupational Tax (SOT) on retailers of beer and wine can be included as part of that bill. NACS is leading an effort to achieve that objective.

ENERGY LEGISLATION

What seemed to be certain only a month ago – passage of some form of energy legislation this year – is now looking more questionable. Sen. Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has yet to schedule work on the package, although he has indicated he will take it up in the near future. All Republican Senators have joined together in a letter to Bingaman, urging action, and President Bush has made efforts with both Bingaman and Murkowski (R-AK), the ranking Republican. SIGMA is working to strengthen the provisions already passed by the House for a study on the effects of boutique fuels, and also fighting to keep the small refinery tax incentives intact.

AN "OMNI-BILL" IN THE WORKS?

As Congress nears the end of its planned session for the year, it is increasingly likely that many of the remaining issues will be rolled into a single piece of legislation – and “omni bill” – with a single up-or-down vote. That procedure offers both opportunities and pitfalls. The opportunity is to break legislative “logjams” by giving key legislators what they want in one area in exchange for their dropping opposition in another area. The pitfall: issues are not decided on the merits, but rather on who is pushing which provisions, and how much they care about it.

Any omni-bill would likely include all remaining appropriations bills for the government to operate through the fiscal year that begins today (Oct. 1). It may also include such items as the energy bill and the economic stimulus package discussed above. SIGMA’s lobbyists are working long hours these days to ensure that bad provisions don’t sneak into an omni-bill, and that perhaps a few good provisions do.

GASOLINE PRICES & CONGRESS

Although gasoline pricing has seemed to drop off the radar screen with the public and at the state level, Congress now seems to be moving to take up the “slack”. Last Tuesday, we heard that Sen. Levin (D-MI) was preparing for hearings on gasoline prices – last spring’s spikes, as well as the anomalies of Sept. 11. SIGMA is working with PMAA and its state affiliates to deal with the issues.

Meanwhile, Lundberg Letter has documented that there really was no widespread retail pricing problem on Sept. 11, but that there were widespread increases in wholesale prices that day.. With their permission, we are attaching a copy of their latest edition (e-mail subscribers only).

BROWNFIELDS LEGISLATION

Republican leaders of the House of Representatives pulled the Brownfields bill from consideration on the floor. The reason? The bill became embroiled in a debate over whether wages paid to those working on cleanups of abandoned waste sites under the bill would be subject to the provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act. SIGMA’s interest in the bill is that some sites with petroleum contamination from retail gasoline facilities would be covered. It is not known when or if the labor dispute can be settled and the bill brought back up.

DIESEL SULFUR LITIGATION

SIGMA’s written brief in the pending diesel sulfur lawsuit is due today (Monday, Oct. 1). Oral arguments in the case have been scheduled for Feb. 26 of next year. As you will recall, SIGMA sued EPA to block the phase-in provisions of the new ultra-low-sulfur diesel rule. Our suit is being consolidated with one brought by NPRA.

"EMERGENCY" LEGISLATION

House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders, Reps. Tauzin (R-LA) and Dingell (D-MI), have sent letters to agencies under their jurisdiction asking what changes in the laws are needed to help them respond to the events of Sept. 11. Apparently the focus will be on eliminating bottlenecks and increasing security. Although they will be working on it in the next few weeks, it is likely that this is really a 2002 legislative project.