April 22, 2010 | Vol. 60, No. 9

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Dear PEI Member:

PEI's Board of Directors met last week in Indian Wells, California, and made a number of important decisions about the services PEI offers. Here is a summary of action taken by the group.

Two new recommended practices. PEI will publish a document for the Testing of Overfill, Release Detection and Release Prevention Equipment. The recommended practice will describe procedures to conduct interstitial integrity testing of secondarily-contained underground storage tanks (USTs) and piping; tightness testing of spill buckets and sumps; testing to ensure operability of overfill devices; and testing of release detection equipment at UST facilities. Persons interested in serving on the committee to write this recommended practice should see the related article later in this newsletter.

PEI will also publish a recommended practice on the Design, Installation, Service, Repair, Maintenance, and Decommissioning of Fixed Base Operator (FBO) Fueling Systems. The scope of this document will include general aviation and private fueling at airports, but not cover hydrant systems. PEI President Peter H. Ward will appoint this committee later this summer.

Safety audit services. PEI will launch a pilot program to provide safety audit services to members of the distributor and service & construction divisions at a "reasonable cost" later this year. We are not certain at this point if the safety auditor will be a PEI employee or a safety consultant(s), but whoever it is will be available to conduct confidential safety audits of your premises, vehicles, forms and work sites.

Other board action. The directors reviewed and approved plans and programs submitted by the Education/Convention, Safety, and Young Executives Committees; reviewed and approved a complete 2010 convention schedule and program; and adopted a long range plan for the association. Several other actions of general interest to PEI members also were taken by the board in California. That included:

Summary of PEI Board Action

Members Sought for New RP on Equipment Testing

Comments Sought for RP500

PEI and Industry Events »

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Approval of $2,641,000 in expenditures for the fiscal year that began April 1.
Sponsoring a Service/Construction Managers Conference in Spring 2011.
Sponsoring a Sales Boot Camp that would appeal to those experienced in sales as well as those new to the field.
Creating and maintaining helpful downloadable resources on or through the PEI website, initially including Material Safety Data Sheets typically required by member firms.
Developing mechanisms to better understand the needs of smaller North American members that PEI might be able to satisfy with unique services.
Maintaining close ties with alternative fuel groups.
Budgeting funds to study the cause of accelerated corrosion with equipment in ultra low sulfur diesel service.

PEI President Peter H. Ward, Riviera Beach, Florida, presided at the midyear meeting. Other officers and directors attending the meeting were:

Dennis Rethmeier, San Diego, CA (Vice President)
Joey Cheek, Tampa, FL (Treasurer)
Blair Shwedo, Charlotte, NC (Immediate Past President)
Robert N. Renkes, Tulsa, OK (Executive Vice President)
Ken Hayden, Schenectady, NY (District 1)
Craig Smith, Chinchilla, PA (District 2)
Jared M. Samon, St. Petersburg, FL (District 3)
Monti Harris, Indianapolis, IN (District 4)
Phil Farrell, Kansas City, MO (District 6)
Steve W. Sulland, Grand Forks, ND (District 7)
Robert J. Peavey, Beaumont, TX (District 8)
William J. Mascott, Portland, OR (District 9)
Al Eichorn, Avon, CT (District 10)
Phil Parker, Swannanoa, NC (District 11)
Bradley F. Baker, Pacific, MO (District 12)
Dennis Grappin, Cleveland, OH (District 13)
Erik T. Long, Naperville, IL (Affiliate Division)
Terry Perry, Raleigh, NC (Service & Construction Division)
Rick Long, Tulsa, OK (PEI General Manager)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS SOUGHT FOR UST COMPONENT TESTING RECOMMENDED PRACTICE
PEI is soliciting individuals who would like to serve on the committee responsible for writing PEI's Recommended Practices for the Testing of Overfill, Release Detection and Release Prevention Equipment. The scope of the document is described previously in this newsletter.

All members of the committee will be expected to attend three two-day meetings over an 18-month period, beginning sometime this fall. While the committee members pay their own travel expenses, PEI pays for the meals during the meetings. Only individuals having relevant experience with testing procedures and protocols should apply. Members interested in serving on this committee should contact Bob Renkes at PEI rrenkes@pei.org to volunteer or learn more. All interested people should include a brief statement describing why they are interested and their experience in testing this equipment. All appointments to the committee will be made during the week of May 17 by PEI President Peter Ward.

REVISIONS TO RP500 REQUESTED
PEI's Recommended Practices for Inspection and Maintenance of Motor Fuel Dispensing Equipment (PEI/RP500-05) is currently available for public comment through May 7, 2010, at www.pei.org/rp500. Instructions for completing the online comment form are available on the website.

INDUSTRY NOTES
The board of directors of Casey's General Stores Inc. last week approved a plan to prevent a hostile takeover of the company by Alimentation Couche-Tard, who earlier had offered $1.95 billion to buy Casey's.
Convenience store in-store sales grew 4.9 percent in 2009, according to figures released last week by NACS. According to NACS, motor fuel sales dominate industry revenues, accounting for 68.4 percent of all sales dollars. While total gallons sold rose 1.3 percent, gross margins were slim―13.8 cents per gallon―and only 27.3 percent of the industry's profit dollars came from motor fuels, compared to 72.7 percent of profits from in-store sales.
OPW Fueling Containment Systems, a division of OPW Fueling Components, has named Charles (Chuck) Liebal as product manager.
Savage Associates Inc. has moved its corporate headquarters to larger facilities at 40 Stirling Road, Suite 208, Watchung, New Jersey 07060. Phone: 908-822-8735. Fax: 908-822-8736.
Holiday Stationstores has sold its 10 convenience store locations in Iowa and Nebraska to Casey's General Stores Inc.

SCAMS PROLIFERATING
Members are reporting various scams being perpetrated on PEI members throughout the nation. One was an order for pre-fab kiosks that were to ship overseas. Several others were looking to buy over 100 nozzles. Yet another wanted to purchase Fluke multimeters and MSA gas detector kits. In all cases the "purchaser" had no intent to buy equipment. Know the identity of the purchaser before shipping equipment.

EFFECT OF E20 ETHANOL FUEL ON VEHICLE EMISSIONS
The use of E20 fuel doesn't affect vehicle performance, according to a recent study conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology and published in the Journal of Automobile Engineering. The report says even in vehicles that were not designed specifically for ethanol fuel mixtures, E20 did not affect drivability or maintenance on the car. The study also says the E20 was shown to reduce tailpipe emissions of total hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide more effectively than either regular gasoline or E10.

ADMITTED TO PEI

Fueltec Systems LLC, Jupiter, FL (mfr)
Leotek Electronics USA Corp., Santa Clara, CA (mfr)
BCA Inc., Princeton, NJ (aff)
SunWest Engineering Constructors, Inc., Pomona, CA (S&C)
Clean Fuels of Indiana, Keystone, IN (S&C)
Gemstar Construction Corp., Staten Island, NY (S&C)
Alpha Petroleum Services Inc., Rock Springs, WY (S&C)

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The TulsaLetter (ISSN 0193-9467) is published two or three times each month by the Petroleum Equipment Institute. Robert N. Renkes, Executive Vice President, Editor. Opinions expressed are the opinions of the Editor. Basic circulation confined to PEI members.