Lame-Duck Congress Legislating; New Congress Organizing

A Note from Tom Osborne

Position Available

Service Station Exemption

Miscellaneous Tidbits

ULSD Challenges

Valuable Links

Committees/Winter Meetings

LAME-DUCK CONGRESS LEGISLATING; NEW CONGRESS ORGANIZING

The 2002-2004 Congress has been in session this past week in a post-election session – after their successors (in some cases) have already been elected. They are tackling – or declining to tackle – several pieces of key legislation that had thus far eluded resolution in the current Congress. Those are:

Appropriations Bills – of the 13 spending bills required to keep the government in operation for the fiscal year that began last Oct. 1, 9 have not yet passed. The chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have a strong incentive to enact those 9 full-year spending bills (or an “omnibus” bill rolling them all together) rather than doing a short-term “continuing resolution” which would leave the final decisions to the next Congress. Why? Because home-state funding provisions can more easily be attached to such bills, and both chairmen are stepping down in the next Congress. The White House and Republican leaders in Congress were at last report still negotiating the details of a $388 billion omnibus spending bill, aiming for passage Saturday, Nov. 20.

Debt Ceiling – The government reached its debt ceiling before the election, and has been borrowing from retirement funds to pay its bills. A bill to raise the debt ceiling by $800 billion is working its way through Congress; Dems are forcing Reps to be the ones to vote for the higher national debt.

Energy Bill – this is apparently dead for the year. Sen. Energy Chairman Dominici (R-NM) wants to start afresh in Jan. when Republicans have stronger control of the Senate.

Highway Bill – industry groups are mobilizing to generate support for action on this bill this year, but insiders say that is unlikely. The real problem: not enough money in the highway fund to reach agreement on top transportation priorities.

Intelligence Reform – besides appropriations and debt limit, the only other bill given even a fair chance of passage in the lame duck session is intelligence reform. SIGMA members would like a provision calling for greater uniformity of drivers licenses and other state ID cards – including the ability to be read electronically.

Congress may not achieve its goal of adjourning over the weekend, but we fully expect this Congress to have adjourned before Thanksgiving day.

Meanwhile, the incoming Congress continues its efforts to organize. Sen. Chafee (R-RI) has apparently quieted rumors that he would switch parties, and Sen. Specter (R-PA) looks like he’s quieted a rebellion in Republican ranks that might have denied him chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. The ratio of Republicans to Democrats on committees still isn’t settled. Based on precedent, it would be 11 R’s to 9 D’s on each committee – reflecting exactly the 55%/45% split in the overall Senate. However, there’s talk of putting a 12th Republican onto committees – specifically onto committees on which Chafee, Snowe (R-ME), and Collins (R-ME) serve, since those 3 frequently vote with the Democrats on issues. The issue may not be finally settled until early in January.    

A NOTE FROM TOM OSBORNE

I wish to announce that I will depart my position as SIGMA’s Director of Communications, effective the end of December of this year. As of that date, I will have completed 16 years in this position, written some 800 issues of SIGMA Weekly Report, supervised the publication of 100 issues of Independent Gasoline Marketing magazine, and assisted with the education and other aspects of 32 SIGMA conventions, 10 Winter Management Conferences, and many stand-alone seminars, workshops, and SIGMA Masters programs.

I was originally hired by SIGMA as Acting Director of Communications for a 6-month trial period. Obviously the trial worked out, but when I started here I had no intention of staying 16 years. It is now time for me to move on. I have other interests in my life, both professional and personal, to which I hope to be able to devote more time – including part ownership of an antique shop. At least in the short term, I will also be available to SIGMA on a consulting basis – and I expect to be doing some other consulting and freelancing before (if ever) seeking other full-time employment.

During my time here, I have gotten to know many of you on both a personal and a professional level. I have to say that SIGMA members are an awesome bunch – innovative, creative, and driven but also down-to-earth, friendly, and caring. I hope and trust that – both individually and collectively – our paths will continue to cross in the future.                Tom Osborne    

POSITION AVAILABLE

SIGMA is looking for someone to handle communications and education. Background should include writing, petroleum/c-store industry knowledge, and/or association management background. If someone you know is interested, please contact kdoyle@sigma.org by this Tuesday, Nov. 23!    

SERVICE STATION EXEMPTION

EPA has released the final version of its model application form for exemption from Superfund liability for service station dealers. SIGMA is analyzing the form to see how closely EPA followed our recommendations. Information & the form are available by  clicking here (EPA Website) . If that doesn’t work, the model application form itself is also on the SIGMA website; click here .    

MISCELLANEOUS TIDBITS

New York Gov. Pataki (R) has vetoed a bill to implement previous court decisions and require Indian tribes in the state to start collecting taxes on motor fuel and tobacco as of 1/1/05 . . . Florida’s environmental agency reached a consent agree-ment with Wal-Mart calling for a fine of $765,000 and cor-rective action for violations of waste-oil storage tank rules at tire & lube facilities . . . The standard mileage rate for business use of autos in 2005 will be 40.5 cents/mile, up 3 cents from the 2004 rate of 37.5 cents – the largest 1-year increase ever . . . Shell has opened the first open-to-the-public hydrogen fueling facility, in Washington, DC – a single hydrogen dispenser at an existing gas station, that will initially service a fleet of 6 GM demonstration fuel cell vehicles . . . The FBI is still searching for a stolen 44-foot fuel tanker taken in NJ last Easter. FBI spokesmen say to look for a tanker “in a location inconsistent with where you’d typically see an oil or gasoline delivery” . . . The Texas Supreme Court refused to award punitive damages in a case involving a fire at a terminal caused by a tank truck overfill that a defective probe failed to prevent . . . Kinder-Morgan’s San Jose, CA pipeline was/is shut down for several days by an accident by a third-party contractor working on a water project; the pipeline was carrying gasoline at the time of the accident, and resulted in a product release, explosion, and fire . . .California retail gas station owners are optimistic that CARB will delay by one year the deadline for having Stage II Vapor Control equipment that is compatible with onboard canisters (ORVR systems) . . . With Russia’s signature, the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases goes into effect 2/16/05. The US is one of 4 industrialized nations not to have signed; the others are Australia, Liechtenstein, and Monaco . . . Energy Secretary Abraham announced his resignation last week – one of several cabinet secretaries not serving a second term.

ULSD CHALLENGES

The Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel Implementation Workshop in New Orleans last Monday/Tuesday had about 300 attendees, with about 10% of them marketers. While it appears that refiners are well on their way to producing adequate supplies of the fuel by the deadlines, there are challenges “downstream”. The good news: we have 18 months to resolve the problems. The bad news: ONLY 18 months to resolve the problems. Some of the problems:

There is no accurate & repeatable sulfur test at such low levels. A SIGMA/NACS study sent identical samples to 3 labs using the same test; 3 results came back ranging from 11 ppm to 17 ppm (max. 15 ppm is required). Big difference.

Our readings of pipeline data on their tests suggest that, starting with 6 ppm sulfur diesel, they were unsuccessful in getting any under-15 ppm diesel to the rack.

Terminals are facing similar problems of contamination.

Marathon has done much testing, and it appears the main issue for truck transport might be sequencing. An ULSD shipment following 500 ppm diesel or gasoline may present little problem, but following shipments of aviation fuel there is a big problem. Also, while some terminals can drain truck compartments before switching to a new product, many terminals can’t.

SIGMA and other industry groups will continue to work to address these issues before the deadline for introducing ULSD into the marketplace. Stay tuned, keep informed.    

VALUABLE LINKS

We have a number of new document links for you this week. As promised, the legal memo on the new tax bill is posted at http://www.sigma.org/news-n-views/FUELTAX.pdf. An EPA annual report on its tank program is also now on our website, at www.sigma.org/news-n-views/EPAAnnualReport.pdf . And we have a number of presentations by speakers at our Annual Meeting now accessible from our homepage, www.sigma.org (just below the links to Weekly Report).    

COMMITTEES/WINTER MEETINGS

SIGMA President Bill Shipley is anxious to form committees for next year. Don’t “assume” you’ll be re-appointed to your committee – he wants to know you WANT to serve before making appointments. Please complete the attached form today! Also, plan to attend the first committee meetings of the new year, Jan. 27-28, 2005, in Denver at our Winter Leader-ship Conference. Oh, by the way . . . that conference is just prior to the NPN/SIGMA Winter Management Conference in Snowmass/ Aspen, CO. The cutoff date for hotel rooms in Snowmass is just about a week away – Nov. 30! Make your plans now to be in Snowmass Jan. 30 - Feb. 2. Get a hotel form by  clicking here .    

 
SIGMA Weekly Report November 22, 2004 © Copyright SIGMA, 2005