October 26, 2017 | Vol. 67, No. 21

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Dear PEI Member:

The 2017 PEI Convention concluded Oct. 20 in Chicago after four days of intensive networking, exceptional trade show exhibits and informative education sessions. With 1,532 registrants, paid attendance was 7.9 percent above the 2016 Atlanta convention and 12.8 percent above the association’s last convention in Chicago (2011). Here are a few highlights.

At the annual membership meeting on Oct. 19, delegates elected Robert Peavey, president of PumpTex Inc. in Beaumont, Texas, as the 68th president of PEI. Peavey, whose one-year term begins Jan. 1, currently serves as PEI vice president. He will succeed 2017 PEI President Craig Hoyer, president of Kubat Equipment & Service Co. in Denver.

Charlie Burns, president of Oscar W. Larson Co. in Clarkston, Michigan, was elected to a one-year term as PEI vice president, effective Jan. 1.

Eight individuals elected this summer as directors for PEI’s odd-numbered districts and the Service & Construction Division were installed into office for two-year terms: Tom Dion, Wildco PES, Bloomfield, Connecticut (District 1); BJ Benton, United Pump & Controls, Suwanee, Georgia (District 3); Eric Scott, The Southern Company, Memphis, Tennessee (District 5); Mike Bakken, Valley Petroleum Equipment, Grand Forks, North Dakota (District 7); Ryan Rethmeier, Western Pump, San Diego, California (District 9); Brian Shelton, Clawson Tank, Clarkston, Michigan (District 11); Brad Hoffman, Tanknology, Austin, Texas (District 13); and Ben Stallings, Fatboy Electric, Kansas City, Missouri (Service & Construction Division).

Among the most popular of the 26 educational sessions in Chicago were Brian Beaulieu’s economic outlook; Art Sodermark’s video-enhanced talk on confined spaces; Joey Cheek’s analysis of the true cost of labor; Kathryne Newton’s suggestions for finding and keeping the right employees; panel discussions on cybersecurity and fuels/fuel equipment; and a UL-led conversation on evolving standards for sumps, fittings, accessories and fiberglass tanks.

For the first time, PEI conducted a special session in Spanish for Latin American members. More than 90 Spanish-speaking attendees learned about vapor recovery, diesel exhaust fluid and key market metrics in Latin America.

The annual State of the Industry presentation at the membership meeting included lots of good news for distributors and manufacturers:

2017 PEI Convention Recap

EPA Signals Support for RFS and E15

Service Tech Training Committee Appointed

Federal UST Deadlines

STI Releases AST Maintenance Brochure

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On a scale of 1 to 10, distributors rank current business conditions a 7.3, with service work and equipment upgrades doing particularly well. Diversification into non-retail fueling activities also scored high with distributors.
On the same scale, manufacturers rate 2017 as a 6.87, citing strong economic conditions, new products and international sales as bright spots for the year.
Looking ahead, an impressive 85 percent of distributors described themselves as extremely or moderately optimistic about their businesses over the next three years. Manufacturers were even more bullish, with nearly 97 percent extremely or moderately optimistic.

Slides for many of the education sessions may be downloaded here or on the PEI Event app. PEI also will post a video of the State of the Industry presentation soon on the PEI YouTube channel at www.pei.org/youtube.

In its two meetings in Chicago, the PEI board of directors:

Appointed Bill Mascott, president of Mascott Equipment in Portland, Oregon, to a one-year term as treasurer of the association.
Appointed Craig Hoyer to a three-year term on the PEI Foundation board of governors.
Asked PEI staff to continue working with the Latin American steering committee to develop recommendations for additional programs and services PEI could provide in this region.
Authorized excess funds from the PEI Foundation’s Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma relief program to be donated to an appropriate humanitarian agency assisting victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

On behalf of the board of directors and PEI staff, thanks to all of you who attended, exhibited and helped at this year’s convention. If you were a registered attendee, please complete the short, post-convention survey that was sent out yesterday. Your feedback will be invaluable as PEI’s Education & Convention Committee plans the 2018 PEI Convention in Las Vegas (Oct. 7-10).

PRUITT SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR RFS, E15
In a letter to seven pro-ethanol senators, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt supported keeping 2018 renewable fuel volume requirements and 2019 biomass-diesel requirements at or above the levels proposed in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

“While the process for determining the final RVO [Renewable Volume Obligation] rule is ongoing, it would not be appropriate for the agency to prejudge the outcome of the rulemaking process,” Pruitt said in the letter. “Nevertheless, preliminary analysis suggests that all of the final RVOs should be set at amounts that are equal to or greater than the proposed amounts, including at least 2.1 billion gallons for biomass-based diesel in 2018 and 2019.”

Pruitt also expressed openness to working with Congress to allow the year-round sale of E15 gasoline. Under current law, summertime sales of E15 are prohibited in most of the country.

Ethanol advocates maintain that allowing the nationwide, year-round sale of E15 would greatly accelerate availability and sale of the higher ethanol blend. However, a recent survey of PEI distributors suggests otherwise. Nearly 66 percent of the survey participants said that allowing the summertime sale of E15 would have little to no effect on the number of retailers offering the fuel.

PEI SERVICE TECH TRAINING COMMITTEE APPOINTED
PEI President Craig Hoyer appointed 11 members to a new ad hoc committee that will make recommendations on additional resources PEI should develop to address the industry-wide shortage of service technicians. Committee members are:

Denis Chaney, McKinney Petroleum Equipment
Clif Coker, Seneca Companies
Jim Ether, R. M. Dalrymple Co.
Blake Hess, Oscar W. Larson Co.
John Keller, Petroleum Solutions Inc.
Ed Kubinsky, Crompco LLC
Bill Logue, Tanknology
Mike Mizicko, Western Pump
Alex Ralston, Petcon Inc.
Jay Ruth, PumpTex Inc.
Adam Tukiendorf, Metco

2015 FEDERAL UST DEADLINES: ONE YEAR TO GO
In an Oct. 13, 2017 letter to PEI and other stakeholders in the underground storage tank (UST) community, Carolyn Hoskinson, director of the EPA Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST), noted that remaining requirements in the 2015 federal UST regulations will take effect Oct. 13, 2018, in states without state program approval (SPA). SPA states must reapply by that date to retain their SPA status.

Additional information on SPA and non-SPA requirements and deadlines is available on the EPA website, here.

NEW AST MAINTENANCE BROCHURE FROM STI/SPFA
The Steel Tank Institute/Steel Plate Fabricators Association (STI/SPFA) released a new educational brochure on the maintenance of aboveground storage tank (AST) systems.

"Particularly with today's newer fuels, poor operations and maintenance procedures for monitoring and removing water from storage tank systems can lead to a number of risks, from phase separation to fuel quality degradation and damage to the entire storage system," said Wayne Geyer, executive vice president of STI/SPFA.

The easy-to-understand brochure encourages owners and operators to monitor and remove water from their ASTs in order to maintain product quality and reduce business risk. The brochure may be downloaded from the Fuel Storage Tank System Maintenance tab at www.steeltank.com.

WESTERN STATES PLAN EV CORRIDOR
In an Oct. 4 joint release, the governors of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming announced their intent to form an Intermountain West Electric Vehicle Corridor covering more than 5,000 miles of highway. The non-binding plan aims to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles by eliminating range anxiety for drivers along about a dozen interstate highways.

The governors’ memorandum of understanding, released at a National Governors Association energy summit in Denver, asks state leaders to report on possible strategies by April 1, 2018. Although the memorandum does not include specifics on the effort’s cost or scale, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has estimated 50 to 60 fast-charging stations would be required for Colorado's key highways.

PEI FOUNDATION HURRICANE RELIEF UPDATE
The PEI Foundation’s hurricane relief drive closed Oct. 19, with $25,000 in contributions from members, friends and the association. Approximately 20 full-time employees of PEI member companies who sustained loss as a result of Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma or related flooding will receive $1,000 grants to aid in their recovery. Several thousand dollars also will be donated to help relief efforts in Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria after the fundraising drive launched.

APPOINTMENTS
LSI Industries Inc. named Ron Newbold president of its LSI Lighting segment. Newbold most recently served as vice president of brand management at Hubbell Lighting. His previous responsibilities at Hubbell spanned strategic planning, marketing, sales and engineering.
Power Integrity Corp. added R.C. Ford Associates as its manufacturer’s representative for the petroleum market in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and West Virginia.
SignResource appointed Steve Morris vice president of sales for the western U.S. Morris has more than 10 years of industry experience in brand identity, canopy and site installations, and financial services.

PEI MEMBER NEWS
SouthEastern Petroleum Systems celebrated its 50th anniversary on Oct. 3 with a golf outing for industry vendors, customers, employees and friends.
Wayne Fueling Systems and the San Antonio Police Department are jointly presenting a free seminar on “Gas Pump Credit Card Fraud: Identification & Prevention” Nov. 9, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at 315 S. Santa Rosa Ave. in San Antonio.

BRIEFLY NOTED
“Growth Energy says more than 1,000 fuel stations throughout the U.S. are now offering E15 fuels, more than doubling the number of stations from the same time last year.” —AgnetWest.com, Oct. 11, 2017
“General Motors Co. (GM) plans to become the first company to test self-driving cars in New York City… . GM will deploy a fleet of self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric cars early next year in a 5-square-mile section of lower Manhattan that engineers are mapping, said Kyle Vogt, chief executive of Cruise Automation, the driverless-car developer GM acquired last year.”—Fox Business, Oct. 17, 2017
“Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) revealed a deal on Thursday to acquire NewMotion, one of Europe's largest electric vehicle charging providers. NewMotion specializes in converting parking spots into electric charging stations. The Dutch firm has more than 30,000 electric charge points in Europe.”—CNN Money, Oct. 12, 2017
“The number of ladder-related deaths and injuries have increased at a faster pace than other on-the-job fatalities and injuries, so many employers are instituting voluntary initiatives—sometimes called ‘ladders last’—that can require workers to get written permission from supervisors before they step onto portable ladders or to find an alternative.”—Bloomberg Environment, Oct. 18, 2017

ADMITTED TO PEI

Ingersoll Petroleum Services Ltd., Port Hope, Ontario (aff)
Conidia Inc., Boston, Massachusetts (aff)

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The TulsaLetter (ISSN 0193-9467) is published two or three times each month by the Petroleum Equipment Institute. Richard C. Long, Editor. Opinions expressed are the opinions of the Editor. Basic circulation confined to PEI members.