SENATE HOLDS HEARING ON BIOFUELS LEGISLATION

On Thursday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on S. 987, the Biofuels for Energy Security and Transportation Act of 2007. The committee heard testimony from the Department of Energy, as well as several industry groups including the American Petroleum Institute and the Renewable Fuels Association.

Most significant to petroleum marketers, this bill would require 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be used in the fuel stream by 2022. While the majority of committee members were supportive of this new renewable fuels standard, several Senators were more skeptical. There are questions of types of fuel, feedstocks, capacity, and infrastructure that must be addressed in order for any substantive alternative fuel legislation to be successful.

Because S.987 has bipartisan support, it is likely that it will progress through the Senate steadily (if not rapidly). PMAA will continue to work with committee members seeking needed changes to the bill. In addition, PMAA’s upcoming Day on the Hill will provide PMAA members with an important opportunity to discuss marketer concerns with Senators.

PMAA WASHINGTON CONFERENCE AND DAY ON THE HILL IS ALMOST HERE!

If you plan on attending the PMAA Washington Conference and Day on the Hill, please be advised that room reservations should be made through A Room With A View for "hotel overflow" assistance at 1-800-780-4343. They will secure the lowest available rate within walking distance to the Hilton Washington. This is a free service for all PMAA attendees. This information is also available at http://www.pmaa.org/meetings/pmaa.asp.

PMAA’s Washington Conference is scheduled for April 25-27, 2007 and will begin with a welcome reception and PAC silent auction on the evening of April 25. On the morning of April 26, following a PMAA legislative briefing, marketers will head to Capitol Hill for visits with their Congressional delegations. The PMAA Board of Directors will meet on April 27. A complete agenda and registration form is available at www.pmaa.org/meetings/pmaa.asp.  If you have not registered to attend the meeting, it is still not too late to do so.

TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR JACK NICKLAUS PHOTO AND SIGNED SPECIAL EDITION SCOTTISH POUND

Purchase Your Tickets for an Opportunity to Own a Rare Gold Gild Framed Jack Nicklaus Photo and Nicklaus Signed Special Edition Scottish Pound of the Golf Legend.

PMAA Small Business Committee (SBC) PAC raffle tickets are available for advance purchase until April 24, 2007. Ticket sales will continue at PMAA’s conference in Washington, D.C., and the raffle winner will be identified during the conference on April 26.

The winner does not have to be present to win; if you are not attending the conference, you will be notified the first week in May if you are the fortunate winner of the raffle.

The proceeds of the raffle will benefit the PMAA SBC PAC. The money distributed to the PAC is used to benefit federal legislators who support the industry and have a solid record on key industry legislative issues. The SBC thanks the raffle award donor, PMAA’s Vice Chairman, Steve Turner of Petromark Incorporated.

Tickets are $20 each or 6 for $100. Tickets must be paid for with personal funds by MasterCard, VISA, cash or check (checks should be made out to the PMAA Small Business Committee). To purchase tickets, contact PMAA’s Sabrina Pitcher at 703-351-8000 or SPitcher@pmaa.org.

NEW PMAA SILENT AUCTION ITEMS ARE AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE BIDDING

New Items for PMAA’s Silent Auction are available this week for bidding online at www.pmaa.org/silentauction. Please visit the site to place your bids, items on the site are eligible for bidding until April 24.

Successful bidders will be identified on April 25 during the PMAA conference in Washington, D.C. Bidders do not have to be present to win; you will be notified the first week in May if yours is the winning bid.

Recent additions to the site include a fly fishing rod and a fish carving from PAC co-chair, Ronna Alexander and the Montana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association. Fishermen and women will be certain to appreciate these contributions!

Mike Rud and the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association donated an authentic box of Arturo Fuente cigars that were hand made in the Dominican Republic! The cigars are called the Double Chateau Fuente and they come in a nice wooden box that features 20 cigars.

A stunning Smithsonian Institute baroque blush freshwater pearl necklace, bracelet and earrings ensemble was donated by Natalie Isaacks and the Louisiana Oil Marketers and Convenience Store Association. The original freshwater pearl jewelry is in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals at the National Museum of Natural History.

Donations that are sure to excite golf lovers came from Bill Fleischli and the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association/Illinois Association of Convenience Stores. A Mizuno hybrid titanium golf club, Mizuno Omega cart golf bag, and a Mizuno Tour ¼ zip rain suit were all generously contributed!

If you would like to make a donation to PMAA’s Small Business Committee PAC, please contact Sherri Cabrera at 703-351-8000 x25, or SCabrera@pmaa.org.

BIODIESEL TRAINERS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOORSTEP

The Petroleum Marketers Association of America, PMAA and, the National Biodiesel Board, NBB are pleased to offer a series of “FREE” comprehensive biodiesel educational programs designed to inform petroleum distributors on all aspects of biodiesel and Bioheat® fuel oil.  Everywhere you turn biodiesel and ethanol training courses are being offered at prices as high as $2,000 per registrant.  It’s no surprise that much of the information presented at these nationwide workshops has come directly from the NBB archives, where it all began.

NBB has elected to nurture the petroleum marketer’s growing appetite for biodiesel intelligence but in a convenient and cost effective way.  Seize the opportunity to assemble your staff at your headquarters reducing expenses associated with typical workshops that strain both human resource staffing and travel budgets.  In the past companies could only afford to send one or two representatives to multi-day sessions.  How great would it be to have your entire team trained while saving thousands of dollars?  Here’s how it works:

These one and half hour sessions have been designed to provide valuable information to those involved or interested in becoming involved with biodiesel while taking time to answer each and every question before closing the session.  Each Webinar will cover:

·         Biodiesel basics, production, feedstock’s, ASTM specifications

·         BQ-9000 quality program and what it means to the industry

·         Real time production contrasted to prevailing demand

·         Biodiesel market drivers, how will you make money

·         Handling and distribution strategies, upstream and downstream

·         Cold flow and stability concerns and suggested remedies

·         Bioheat® fuel oil, is it truly oil heat for the Next Generation

And finally, this will be an opportunity to have questions answered “in detail” without a moderator waving his/her hands to bring it to a close.  We hope you can join one of the following sessions: May 3rd, 10th and 17th (Thursday’s) 2:00 p.m. EST.  To enroll, please log on to the dedicated website sponsored by National Biodiesel Board (NBB) at: http://www.biodiesel.org/misc/040307.shtm.   When you register on this site, you will get a confirmation.  You must register in order to obtain the webinar information.  Please note that if you are viewing this as a group, only one person needs to register.  However, the Presenter, Paul Nazzaro, will want the names of all of the participants.  I will have him address this during the presentation. For more information on the agenda, please contact Paul Nazzaro, NBB Director of Petroleum Affairs, 978-664-5923 or write advancedfuel@comcast.net.  For general information, please contact Susan Isard, PMAA Manager of Programs & Administration, 703-351-8000, sisard@pmaa.org.

EPA ISSUES FINAL RULE ON RENEWABLE FUEL CONTENT IN GASOLINE

A final rule signed April 10 by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson will require corn-based ethanol or other renewable fuels to comprise at least 4.02 percent of the nation's gasoline supply in 2007.

The rule also establishes a program to allow companies that refine, import, and blend fuel to trade credits to help implement the renewable fuels standard. Companies would generate credits by blending renewable fuels into their product or by selling pure ethanol. Firms that do not use renewable fuels could comply with the standard by purchasing the credits.

The rule implements the renewable fuels standard enacted by Congress as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. No. 109-58). The 2005 energy law requires the United States to use 4.7 billion gallons of ethanol or other cleaner-burning biofuels in 2007, and the target of 4.02 percent in the EPA standard is intended to meet that requirement. The law requires a steady increase in renewable fuel use to 7.5 billion gallons in 2012.

For 2006, EPA required the fuel supply to include 2.78 percent renewable fuel, equivalent to about 4 billion gallons. This was identical to a provision in the energy law.

According to EPA, renewable fuel production has increased since passage of the Energy Policy Act, mostly due to the renewable fuels standard, and expansion of the industry is proceeding rapidly.

TWIC ENROLLMENTS SET TO BEGIN IN WILMINGTON, DELAWARE

According to the Independent Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA), enrollment in the new DHS/TSA Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program is scheduled to open at the Port of Wilmington in Delaware. According to Lockheed Martin, the contractor for Phase I implementation, enrollments will follow in New York, NY, Miami, FL, Philadelphia, PA, Norfolk, VA, Baltimore, MD, Jacksonville, FL, and Charleston, SC. Employees may begin the process in early May with pre-enrollment available two weeks in advance. The deadlines for completion of the process have not yet been published; however, each Captain of the Port is to notify facilities 90 days before compliance is required.

Terminals are reminded that all employees, contractors, truck drivers, and other visitors who will need unescorted access to a MTSA facility must obtain and carry a TWIC card. There are no provisions in the rule for waivers or exceptions to the TWIC requirements. Terminals are encouraged to communicate with employees, carriers, and contractors to ensure that they are aware of the rules and how they will impact all personnel requiring access to any MTSA facility.

EPA PLANS TO USE INCREASED COMPLIANCE FUNDING FOR ROBUST ENFORCEMENTS

According to the Independent Liquid Terminals Association, President Bush's $2.9 trillion budget request for next year includes $7.2 billion for the EP A, a cut of more than $400 million from the 2007 funding. While environmental groups and the media have focused on the overall reduced budget numbers, it has gone largely unnoticed that the proposed funding for compliance enforcement has increased 31.4 percent to nearly $510 million. The proposed budget reduces the allocation of funds for creating new regulations, but it continues to support the increase in EPA's focus on enforcement. The proposed 2008 spending plan for enforcement operations is the largest amount ever dedicated to that agency responsibility. Granta Nakayama, head of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, says he will use the increased funding to create a "very robust" enforcement program.

The proposed budget would also reduce EPA staffing levels by 1.3 percent to 17,324 full-time employees. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) has not remained quiet on this issue. He says that Congress may not approve the budget cuts proposed by the White House and cautions against the "unnecessary loss of experienced personnel." Of course, EPA makes extensive use of contractors, and a loss of full-time personnel does not necessarily translate into an actual loss of manpower allocated to EPA's programs.

COURT APPROVES SHARING OF LIABILITY IN EXCEPTIONAL CASES WHEN HARM IS DIVISIBLE

A trial court may apportion superfund response costs if there is a reasonable basis for doing so, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held.

The Ninth Circuit joins several other federal appeals courts that also have held that apportionment of a superfund site's cleanup costs is possible in some instances.

While liability may be divisible in some cases, the appeals court said, because the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act "seeks to distribute economic burdens--joint and several liability, even for PRPs [potentially responsible parties] with a minor connection to the contaminated facility, is the norm, designed to assure, as far as possible, that some entity with connection to the contamination picks up the tab."

Consequently, the Ninth Circuit said, "apportionment is the exception, available only in those circumstances in which adequate records were kept and the harm is meaningfully divisible."

Overturning a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the appeals court said that while it was theoretically possible to separate out three potentially responsible parties' liability for a site contaminated by pesticides in California, the court erred in finding the PRPs liable for only part of the site's cleanup costs because the PRPs failed to prove a reasonable basis for dividing up their liability.