MPCA NEWS
|
ONLINE
|
573.635.7117 phone •
573.635.3575 fax • www.mpca.org • ©
MPCA 2010
JULY 19, 2010
1. ASTs Must Have Pollution
Liability Insurance By 12/31/10 Deadline. Please Alert Your Dealers &
Customers Today!
2. UST Federal Rules: EPA’s
“Short List” Of Proposed Regulatory Changes.
3. Alcohol Training: Free,
Web-Based Alcohol Service Training For Retailers.
4. National Institute For Storage Tank Management (NISTM):
5. Federal Legislative &
Regulatory Updates.
A. Price Gouging Bill Filed In
B. SPCC Deadline Extension: Update.
C. Cap & Tax: Update.
D. Estate Tax Proposal.
E. EPA Sets 2011 Renewable Fuel Blending
Volume Mandates.
F. Ethanol & Biodiesel Tax Credits.
G. Shifting Ethanol Tax Credits Away From
Blenders To Autos & Pumps.
6. Save Money On Credit Card
Fees, Workers Comp/Health/Property/Liability Insurance & Employee
Background Checks! Check Out MPCA’s Member Benefits Program Today!
1. ASTS MUST HAVE
POLLUTION LIABILITY INSURANCE BY 12/31/10 DEADLINE. PLEASE ALERT YOUR DEALERS
& CUSTOMERS TODAY!
A fuel spill or fuel release
without the state required pollution liability insurance can literally bankrupt
your family and destroy your life’s work so don’t delay!
Click here for information on how to get your pollution liability insurance through PSTIF, the Petroleum Storage Tank Insurance Fund.
2. UST FEDERAL RULES: EPA’S “SHORT
LIST” OF PROPOSED REGULATORY CHANGES.
MPCA received the following EPA email from PMAA on 7/8/10.
“REVISED Short List,
Potential Changes to UST Regulations, May 2010
Two years ago we
started the process to consider changes to the UST regulations to better
protect the environment and to improve implementation of the program. After considering input from a wide variety
of stakeholders, in June 2009 we shared a “Short List” of those issues we
planned to evaluate further. After
considering the costs, benefits as well as technical feasibility of the
possible changes, we have revised the Short List. Below is the current list of issues we plan
to continue to move through the EPA regulatory process. This list may change further as we navigate
the regulatory process. In the winter
2010, we hope to publish a proposed rule in the federal register for public
comment.
RELEASE PREVENTION
1. Operation and Maintenance (O&M) – includes overfill functionality testing, walk through checks, spill bucket testing and integrity testing for interstitial areas.
2. Ball Floats - Eliminate flow restrictors in vent lines as overfill device on new systems and when overfill is replaced.
3. Address Repairs:
a. Repairs and secondary containment - If fix primary or secondary wall, must verify structural integrity of the interstitial space before returning tank/piping to service.
b. Revise repairs section to include non-release repairs and include requirements/testing. This will also require re-evaluating repair definition and disassociating repair from release.
RELEASE DETECTION
1. O&M –walk through checks and periodic operational checks and periodic testing (automatic tank gauge, probes, sensors, line leak detectors, and alarms).
2. Incorporate new technologies with applicable performance standards - Statistical Inventory Reconciliation (SIR), Continuous In Tank Leak Detection System (CITLDS).
3. Address interstitial alarms with regard to section 280.50 “Reporting of Suspected Releases”.
4. Phase out groundwater and vapor monitoring as leak detection methods.
OTHER
1. Update Regulations to acknowledge 1998 deadline has passed.
2. Require closure of lined USTs that fail periodic inspection and cannot be repaired.
3. Update tank, piping sections for new technologies – include clad and jacketed tanks, flexpiping.
4. Notification of ownership changes - Require revised notification forms when ownership changes at the facility.
5. Technical Corrections – such as update standards and correct typos.
6. Address alternative fuels and compatibility.
DEFERRALS
1. Exclude USTs containing Radioactive Substances.
2. Exclude Emergency Generator USTs at nuclear power generation facilities regulated by NRC.
3. Fully regulate Emergency Generator USTs.
4. Regulate Airport Hydrant Systems with alternate Release Detection requirements.
5. Regulate Field-Constructed USTs with alternate Release Detection requirements.
6. Regulate Wastewater Treatment Tanks.”
3. ALCOHOL TRAINING: FREE,
WEB-BASED ALCOHOL SERVICE TRAINING FOR RETAILERS.
MPCA received the following on 7/7/10 from “SMART” - the State
of
“Did you know that retailers have access to free alcohol
service training through the State of Missouri Alcohol Responsibility Training
(SMART) program? SMART is an interactive, web-based course
available at no cost to anyone who owns or works for any
To register for SMART, visit http://smart.missouri.edu. If you have any questions about the SMART program, contact Jessica Schlosser, SMART Coordinator, at 573.882.9335 or via email at schlosserj@missouri.edu.”
4. NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STORAGE
TANK MANAGEMENT (NISTM):
The Missouri Department of Agriculture, Divisions of Weights
& Measures (W&M), asked MPCA to notify our members of the Missouri
State Storage Tank Conference in
The Conference brochure states in part that:
“At this conference, you and your company will learn about the best management practices for storage tank systems that will help you comply with the Missouri State Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture rules for aboveground and under-ground storage tank systems.
Presenters will discuss topics about AST & UST system management and regulations, compliance inspections, installation/closure requirements, cathodic protection, UST enforcement, petroleum clean-up, release detection, operator certification, alternative fuels, and much more!”
Click here for more information including how to register.
5. FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE &
REGULATORY UPDATES.
I. PMAA. MPCA recently received the following from the Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA).
A. “PRICE GOUGING BILL FILED IN
A bill that would have criminalized charging market prices for needed goods passed the House in 2007, but failed to get the two-thirds votes necessary to override President Bush’s threatened veto. Now, with a more sympathetic President Obama in office, such legislation could potentially pass as part of a large energy bill.
Nelson’s
legislation would penalize companies for charging "unconscionably
excessive" prices in an emergency in a region hit by a presidentially
declared major disaster. The bill would impose fines of up to $500,000
and a jail term up to one year for retailers who raise prices during
emergencies.
PMAA will work with our petroleum association colleagues to oppose this harmful legislation.”
B. “SPCC DEADLINE EXTENSION: UPDATE. Last week, PMAA reported that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was reviewing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) compliance deadline extension rule. The OMB review was causing newfound uncertainty in the petroleum marketing industry over the fate of the EPA's proposed rule to extend the current November 10, 2010 SPCC deadline. Many petroleum marketers need the extra time a deadline extension would offer in order to bring their bulk plants into compliance with the new SPCC requirements.
The proposed extension was widely thought to be a slam-dunk
until the oil spill in the
PMAA will report on the final SPCC deadline extension as soon as the rule is published in the Federal Register.”
C. “CAP & TAX: UPDATE. The Senate is running out of time to pass an energy bill that could contain carbon controls and Senate leaders are trying to find a combination of ideas that can get 60 votes. President Obama has signaled to Congressional leaders that he wants curbs on carbon emissions.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is meeting this week with five Senate
committee chairmen to develop an energy package that the Senate could pass. The
senators will work to write a bill that includes provisions to reform offshore
drilling and raise disaster liabilities on oil companies; clean energy
provisions similar to what Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) proposed last year and
was approved by his Energy and Environment Committee; and carbon controls. It
is important to note that any effort to curb carbon emissions has been met with
very little support in the Senate. There is some support for carbon controls
that apply only to power plants but it is not clear if it could get the support
of 60 votes.
Draft legislation
from Senator Bingaman has surfaced that would cut emissions 17 percent by 2020
and 42 percent by 2030 over 2005 levels. The carbon caps would apply only to
electric utilities. Utilities that emit 25,000 tons or more of carbon annually
would be regulated. The bill would delay the EPA from regulating industrial
sources of carbon emissions until January 2018 and prohibit states from
enforcing existing greenhouse gas regulations between 2012 and 2017.
This draft bill is one of many ideas under consideration. It’s not yet clear
what will emerge from these discussions.”
D. “ESTATE TAX PROPOSAL. This week Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) filed an amendment to the Senate small business lending bill that would permanently reform the federal estate tax.
The Senate estate tax amendment would allow estates to
choose between current law and their proposal. Under current law, when
inherited assets are sold, heirs must report a gain based on the difference
between the sale price and the original purchase price.
The amendment would permanently set the estate tax rate at 35 percent with a five million dollar exemption amount phased in over 10 years and indexed for inflation. It would also provide a “stepped up basis” for inherited assets. If Congress does not act this year, the federal estate tax is scheduled to increase to 55 percent with only a one million dollar exemption at the beginning of 2011.
Senators Lincoln and Kyl introduced a similar measure in 2009 that received broad bipartisan support and was successfully added to the non-binding congressional budget resolution. Although support for reform is broad, Congress continues to be challenged to find funding to offset the cost of the estate tax reform. Without an emergency declaration or a change to the pay-as-you-go law, the amendment would trigger mandatory rescissions if enacted.”
E. “EPA SETS 2011 RENEWABLE FUEL BLENDING
VOLUME MANDATES. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has released proposed new renewable fuel blending
volumes that refiners and other regulated parties must meet under the Renewable
Fuel Standard (RFS2) for 2011. While petroleum marketers are not subject to the
renewable fuel volume obligations (RVO), the annual percentages provide insight
on renewable fuel availability for 2011.
The RVO was created by Congress pursuant to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The RVO blending mandates increase each year until 2022 when the annual blend mandate will reach 36 billion gallons. To achieve these volumes, EPA calculates a percentage-based standard for the following year. Based on the standard, each refiner, importer and non-oxygenate blender of gasoline determines the minimum volume of renewable fuel that it must ensure is used in its transportation fuel. The largest component of the blending mandate involves corn-based ethanol, which refiners will be required to blend approximately 11.75 billion gallons in 2011.
The
proposed 2011 overall volumes and standards are:
1. Biomass-based diesel (0.80 billion gallons; 0.68 percent)
2. Advanced biofuels (1.35 billion gallons; 0.77 percent)
3. Cellulosic biofuels (5 – 17.1 million gallons; 0.004 –
0.015 percent)
4. Total renewable fuels (13.95 billion gallons; 7.95 percent)
Based on analysis of
market availability, EPA is proposing a 2011 cellulosic volume that is lower
than the EISA target due to a slower than expected breakthroughs and
investments in cellulosic production.”
F. “ETHANOL
& BIODIESEL TAX CREDITS. The Senate is expected to take up the Small Business Lending
Fund Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297) again next week. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA)
filed an amendment to H.R. 5297 which would reinstate the biodiesel tax credit
for this year and would make the credit retroactive. Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-NV) has employed a procedural maneuver known as “filling the
amendment tree” on the bill which prevents other senators from offering
amendments to H.R. 5297. However, the biodiesel tax credit enjoys bipartisan
support, so favorable action on the amendment looks promising. PMAA sent
another letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and to all Senators
in support of the biodiesel tax credit.
The Senate small business bill also
would create a $30 billion lending fund to extend credit to small businesses.
H.R. 5297 also includes a number of tax provisions that would revive an expired
“bonus depreciation” provision that allowed companies to write off up to
$500,000 in purchases in 2010 and 2011 up from $250,000 in current law for this
year and $25,000 for next year. Business capital expenses that exceed two
million dollars would be phased out. The House has already passed its small
business jobs bill earlier in June.
There are reports that Democrats on the
Ways and Means Committee members Joe Crowley (NY), Mike Thompson (CA), and Pete Stark (CA) cosponsored H.R. 3187 that would eliminate the credit by 2014. Other Democrats on the committee including Earl Pomeroy (ND), Danny Davis (IL) and Artur Davis (AL) support H.R. 4940, legislation that would extend the existing tax credit through 2015.
Two major trade groups inside the ethanol industry are also separated on support for the ethanol tax credit. Growth Energy offered a proposal to phase out the tax credit in exchange for policies that would help ethanol better compete with gasoline in the marketplace. The Renewable Fuel Association (RFA) reaffirmed its support for a five-year renewal of the 45 cents-per-gallon ethanol tax credit to refiners.
Changes to the ethanol tax credit are part of the “green jobs” energy tax bill that House leadership intends to take up before August recess. The “green jobs” bill is part of a number of small “jobs bills” that House and Senate leadership plan to take up before the November elections. Other provisions that may be included in the green jobs bill are an extension of the alternative vehicle refueling property tax credit (through 2013), an extension but also possibly lowering of the ethanol tax credit to 36 cents per gallon and 8 cents per gallon additional credit for small producers, and allowing algae-based fuels to qualify for the cellulosic biofuel tax credit.
At its May 2010 meeting, the PMAA Board of Directors approved a motion to support the extension of the 45 cent-per-gallon ethanol tax credit.”
II. Oil Express. The following article is reprinted with permission from the 7/19/10 Oil Express.
G. SHIFTING ETHANOL TAX CREDITS AWAY FROM BLENDERS TO AUTOS & PUMPS. “As Congress mulls extending the 4.5cts/gal ethanol excise tax credit which expires this year, one ethanol industry group is urging the credit be shifted to automakers and blender pumps and away from blenders.
Growth Energy unveiled its "Freedom Fueling Plan" calling for "the redirection and eventual phasing out of government support for ethanol in return for a level playing field - infrastructure investments that will create competition in the fuels market and give consumers the true freedom to choose their fuel." Growth Energy aims to get congressional support for inclusion of its plan in the energy bill likely to come before the Senate this month.
The Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) rebates 4.5cts for each gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline. At times of high ethanol prices, the blending credit has helped drive ethanol use in discretionary blending markets. VEETC is due to expire at year's end.
While Growth Energy's peer groups, the Renewable Fuels Assn. and the American Coalition for Ethanol, continue to push for VEETC extension as is, Growth Energy wants to aim some of the credit toward the creation of more flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) that can burn ethanol blends higher than 10%, including E85.
The five-year plan calls for tax incentives for the installation of 200,000 retail blender pumps and mandatory production of 120 million FFVs, explained Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. "Ethanol is 10% of our nation's motor fuel supply. We can do more if we have a free and open market," he said.
Greater availability of FFVs would help ethanol producers break through the so-called "blend wall" which limits ethanol use to 10% for the most part. It would also clear the way for easier transition to E15, a blend level at the heart of Growth Energy's waiver request now being considered by EPA.
Shifting to infrastructure build-out would also defuse one of the biggest arguments against ethanol policy leveled by critics, Buis said. "How long are we going to rely on government subsidies? We no longer have a problem producing ethanol," he said. "In fact, we're overproducing. We need to break the oil industry's 90% monopoly on motor fuels."
Merely going after a one- or two-year extension of VEETC isn't the answer, added Growth Energy advisory board member and former congressman Jim Nussle. "If you always do what you always do, you'll always get what you always got. Policymakers are begging us for creativity."
Reacting to a Congressional Budget Office report tagging the VEETC bill at $6 billion in lost tax revenue, Growth Energy Co-Chairman Wesley Clark said, "We spend $300 billion/year on imported oil. How does $6 billion compare to that?"
6. SAVE MONEY ON CREDIT CARD FEES,
WORKERS COMP/HEALTH/PROPERTY/LIABILITY INSURANCE & EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND
CHECKS. CHECK OUT MPCA’S MEMBER BENEFITS PROGRAM TODAY!
A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. MPCA members can support MPCA and save money on a variety of necessary goods & services including workers comp insurance; health, property & liability insurance; employee criminal background checks; and credit card fees.
B. WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT. MPCA members who take advantage of MPCA’s member services listed below accomplish 3 key objectives.
First, they save money and thus increase their company’s
profitability. Second, they help generate a very important source of “non-dues
revenue” for MPCA which helps to keep your MPCA membership dues as low as
possible. Finally, this “non-dues revenue” stream provides MPCA with the tools
we need to protect and advance your legislative and regulatory interests in
Truly a “win win” scenario for all involved!
C. WHO IS ELIGIBLE. Every MPCA member service is available to every MPCA member - marketer members, c-store members, associate members, etc.
D. SPECIFIC MEMBER SERVICES. The following is a list of member services offered by or through MPCA:
1. Employment Reports: Criminal Background, Credit, Liquor Control, Driver/Motor Vehicle & More.
2. Workers’ Compensation Insurance.
3. Health Insurance, Property & Liability Insurance, & Financial Protection Services.
4. Credit Card Processing.
5. Office Supplies & Equipment.
6. Overnight Delivery.
7. Industry Publications.
8. Age Verification Materials.
E. HOW TO GET FURTHER INFORMATION. Click here to access all the information you need regarding MPCA’s member services.
MPCA STAFF
Ronald J. Leone, Esq., Executive Director, ron@mpca.org
Karen Antweiler, Asst. Executive Director, karen@mpca.org
Angie Rickard, Administrative Assistant, angie@mpca.org