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Dear PEI Member:
On December 19, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Energy
Independence and Security Act (EISA), expanding the federal renewable fuels
standard (RFS) to require the use of 36 billion gallons of qualified
renewable fuels by 2022. The trick now is to figure out the best way to
comply with this mandate.
Currently, the most common blend of renewable fuel is gasoline blended
with ethanol in a concentration not exceeding 10 percent. If
every gallon of gasoline were to be blended with 10 percent ethanol, the
industry only would be able to accommodate approximately 15 billion gallons
of renewable fuel, leaving it 21 billion gallons short of complying with the
federal mandate. Even though some believe that E85 will contribute to bridge
that gap, it is generally expected that it will not be sufficient to bring
an additional 21 billion gallons to market.
In an effort to bring more renewable fuels to the marketplace, regulators
are considering allowing mid-level ethanol blends (E15 or E20 are most often
mentioned) to increase the potential renewable fuels market. This poses a
challenge on the equipment compatibility side, both with the existing U.S.
vehicle fleet and petroleum marketing equipment at refueling stations. The
vehicle equipment compatibility issue is best left to the vehicle
manufacturers in Detroit and elsewhere. But PEI members know more about
petroleum marketing equipment than anyone, and federal regulators and
Congress need some straight answers for refueling equipment compatibility
issues now so they can make informed decisions down the road. Here are the
questions they need answered from distributors and installers:
- What percentage of the refueling facilities that you are familiar with
are presently capable of storing, metering and dispensing E20 without
eventual equipment failure due to incompatibility with E20?
- If you had to retrofit equipment currently in use at existing refueling sites
to accommodate E20, what equipment would have to be retrofitted?
- Would your answers to these questions be any different if the
systems were accommodating E15 rather than E20? If yes, how?
Manufacturers of petroleum handling equipment should answer this
question:
- Suppose all new stations had to have equipment that was compatible
with E20. How confident are you that your company is producing petroleum
marketing equipment systems today that will not fail due to
incompatibility with E20?
PEI is partnering with the National Association of Convenience Stores
(NACS) to make this information available to federal regulators and
legislators interested in this issue.
An
online
survey is now available. All responses are confidential and will be shared with NACS for inclusion in its report. Please
respond by July 3.
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Equipment Compatibility Issues with Ethanol Blends
ExxonMobil to
Exit Retail Business
EPA Urged To
Target Mid-Grade Ethanol
GAO Report on
ASTs
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EXXONMOBIL TO EXIT RETAIL BUSINESS
ExxonMobil has decided to exit the retail gasoline business, announcing
earlier this month a plan to sell all of their company-owned stations.
ExxonMobil plans to sell 820 service stations in the United States that are
both owned and operated by the company. Another 1,400 outlets, owned by
ExxonMobil but operated by others, are also for sale. The sale of the
ExxonMobil outlets is expected to take several years to complete. The
stations will still fly the company flag after they are sold. Imperial Oil
Ltd., which is 69.6 percent owned by ExxonMobil, said it has no plans to
sell the 700 Esso-branded gasoline stations it owns in Canada.
MIDWEST FLOODS COULD SHARPLY REDUCE U.S. ETHANOL PRODUCTION
Unrelenting rain in the Midwest, which threatens to ruin this year's
corn crop, could cripple the U.S. biofuel industry as rising corn prices
force ethanol plants to curb their production or even close down completely.
It is too early to tell what impact the floods will have on ethanol
production. Estimates of losses vary widely, from
a short-term estimate of 400,000 million gallons per day to a longer-term 5
billion gallons per day. At the extreme end of the forecasts, that means
ethanol production could be cut by almost half.--Oil Daily, June 17,
2008.
EPA URGED TO TARGET MID-GRADE ETHANOL SALES
Automakers and the outdoor power equipment industry are urging EPA to
launch an enforcement initiative against gasoline retailers in Minnesota and
South Dakota to stop the sale of gasoline with ethanol blends above 10
percent. The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) sent a letter June 4
to EPA air enforcement chief Adam Kushner and air office official Karl Simon
saying the agency needs to provide "clear guidance" to retailers using blend
pumps. The letter notes that the pumps must be labeled to inform consumers
that dispensing fuels with greater than 10 percent ethanol in a non-flexible
fuel vehicle (non-FFV) "is a violation of federal law and punishable by
substantial fines." Many non-FFV vehicle owners are fueling up with
mid-grade blends, because they are less expensive than E10, and gasoline
station owners say they do not fear EPA action, according to Minnesota press
reports.--INSIDE EPA, June 13, 2008. DEADLINES
The PEI Distributor Profitability Survey is a service offered by PEI to
our distributor division members located in North America. Deadline for
submission of industry data (brief questionnaire, income statement and
balance sheet) for the survey is June 30. The Distributor Profitability
Report generated from the responses to the survey is the best benchmarking
source in our industry and is free to participants.
Download the survey form here.
Online registration for the PEI Convention, October 5-7, 2008, in
Chicago is available at www.pei.org/show.
Early and group registration deadline is August 15, with advance
registration closing October 1. PEI's headquarters hotel is the Hyatt
Regency Chicago, which has a special convention room rate of $229 per night,
single/double occupancy. Hotel registration can also be completed online at
www.pei.org/show.
PEI District Elections. Ballots used to elect members to the PEI
Board of Directors were mailed June 19 to the official representatives of
PEI member companies in the even-numbered districts and affiliate division.
Ballots must be returned to Kirk Mercer, PEI Election Chairman, by July 10 to
be counted.
The deadline for PEI members' comments/suggestions to improve the federal
underground tanks regulations has been extended to June 25 at the
request of several members. Members who wish to have input into the process
should submit suggestions to Bob Renkes
rrenkes@pei.org.
GAO REPORT ON ABOVEGROUND OIL STORAGE TANKS AVAILABLE
To prevent damage from oil spills, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) issued the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) rule
in 1973. EPA estimates that about 571,000 facilities are subject to
this rule. Because the facilities subject to the SPCC rule do not have to
report to EPA, the agency can only estimate the universe of SPCC-regulated
facilities and must try to identify them through such means as oil spill
data, state referrals, Internet searches and the Yellow Pages.
Then, through an inspection, EPA confirms whether a facility is covered by
the rule. Although EPA is currently creating a national database to improve
its management of the SPCC program, this database is limited to facilities
that have already been inspected. According to GAO's survey, during fiscal
years 2004 through 2006, EPA regions conducted 3,359 SPCC inspections, which
accounts for less than 1 percent of EPA's estimate of SPCC facilities.
Based on this and other information, GAO recommended that EPA analyze the
options for obtaining data on SPCC-regulated facilities, including a
nationwide tank registration program. A nationwide database would be a
tremendous resource for manufacturers, distributors and installers seeking
to serve this market. GAO's report,
Aboveground Oil Storage Tanks: More Complete Facility Data Could Improve
Implementation of EPA's Spill Prevention Program,
is available here.
OREGON SENDS WARNING LETTERS TO NONCOMPLIANT UST OWNERS
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sent warning
letters earlier this month to 95 operators of underground storage tanks
throughout the state. DEQ says that most of the operators who received
warning letters have failed to provide proof of financial responsibility.
Most of these operators are individuals with one facility, according to The
Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
ADMITTED TO PEI
- Thompson Petroleum Services, Byron, GA (dis)
- Rhino Tuff Tanks, LLC, Maple Lake, MN (mfr)
- Fuel Solutions, Inc., Los Angeles, CA (aff)
- MCD Reps, Inc., Camas, WA (aff)
- Project Growth Technologies Inc., Dover, DE (S&C)
- GasTech, Inc., Melbourne, FL (S&C)
- Optic Fuel Clean of MT, LLC, Wibaux, MT (S&C)
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