Nothing you do is more important for your business, your industry and your association. Please join us at the 2019 OPMCA Member Day at the Capitol and register today!

Please join OPMCA as we host a Member Day at the Capitol! We want to get you in front of legislators from your district to create more influence in stopping some of the proposals that are aimed at our industry. We will provide an issue briefing, talking points, and assist in getting you to your legislators.

All OPMCA members - especially Board members, Marketers members, C-store members, Associate members and Partner members - should attend and bring key employees, family members and prospective members. The more bodies walking the Capitol halls, the better!

Lunch will be served and there is no charge to attend OPMCA's Member Day at the Capitol. However, we need to know if you will be attending so that we can order an appropriate number of meals and have your name badge printed and ready for this event.

Make sure to bring plenty of business cards to leave with your elected officials.

If you have any questions, please contact the OPMCA office.

Thank you for actively participating in YOUR Association!

Wednesday, March 13, 2019 – the EPA proposed regulatory changes to allow gasoline blended with up to 15 percent ethanol (E15) to take advantage of the 1-psi Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) waiver for the summer months that has historically been applied only to E10.

The proposed rule is important to petroleum marketers because it would allow the year-round sale of E15 blended gasoline. Currently, E15 may only be sold during the winter driving season because it can’t meet federal summertime Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) requirements for evaporative emissions. The proposed rule would change all that by extending the existing one-pound waiver allowed exclusively for E10 to E15 blends. If this happens, E15 will meet summertime RVP standards and can be sold year-round, underground storage tank and vehicle compatibility concerns notwithstanding.

Extending the one-pound RVP waiver to E15 through the rulemaking process is controversial because the statutory language of the Clean Air Act specifically limits the waiver to E10 blends. Consequently, opponents of E15 argue that any such change can only be made by Congress through the legislative process, specifically by amending the Clean Air Act. Despite this hurdle, the Trump Administration is directing the EPA to make the change through the proposed rulemaking. In the meantime, E15 opponents will likely sue to prevent the rule from taking effect. While PMAA supports all forms of motor fuels, serious compatibility issues with UST systems and vehicles must be resolved before E15 can be safely sold year-round.

EPA also proposed changes in the trading and holding of biofuel credits, called renewable identification numbers (RINs), in an effort to stabilize the RIN market by limiting speculation.

Proposed reforms to RIN markets include: prohibiting certain parties from being able to purchase separated RINs; requiring public disclosure when RIN holdings exceed specified thresholds; limiting the length of time a non-obligated party can hold RINs; and increasing the compliance frequency of the program from once annually to quarterly.

EPA will hold a public hearing on the proposals on March 29th in Michigan.

For more information on the proposed rulemaking, please click here.

PMAA Counsel is reviewing the proposal and will provide a deeper dive soon.

PMAA will also submit comments to EPA prior to the April 29th deadline.

(PMAA)

Earlier this month, the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued an 80-page Opinion and Order granting preliminary approval to the pending $6.24 billion settlement in the consolidated payment card interchange fee class action case (In Re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL-1720). The settlement class is comprised of all merchants that accepted Visa and Mastercard payment cards from Jan. 1, 2004 to Jan. 25, 2019. The settlement fund is designed to compensate class members for the interchange fees they paid, which were allegedly inflated as a result of certain violations of the antitrust laws by Visa and Mastercard and their participating banks.

Last December, PMAA filed objections to the settlement over concerns that branded marketers would not receive notice or payment because their major oil company suppliers are the only entity known to credit card processors. Although Judge Brodie of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York addressed this issue by saying, "Class Counsel assured the court that Branded operators would in fact receive notice,” PMAA does not count on Visa and MasterCard sending settlement notices to branded jobbers even though jobbers ultimately paid the excessive interchange fees that will fund the settlement. Notice of the settlement should go out shortly and opt-outs may be filed until July. Finally, a Court hearing will be held on Nov. 7, 2019 to decide whether to approve the settlement. 

Given that branded petroleum marketers ultimately paid the fees, PMAA General Counsel, Bassman, Mitchell, Alfano & Leiter, Chartered, have drafted this template for marketers to send to their supplier(s) requesting that any settlement monies they receive be paid on a pro rata basis to their branded marketers from the Visa/MasterCard interchange fee settlement case.  If you have any questions, please contact PMAA General Counsel Al Alfano at [email protected] or Bob Bassman at [email protected].

Upon receiving the Court-approved Notice, branded and unbranded marketers will have three options. They are:

1) Opt out of the Settlement Class. Marketers who would like to continue to pursue the litigation against Visa and MasterCard, in lieu of settling their claims, will have an opportunity to opt out of the settlement class by providing the court with an opt out notice. The Notice you receive from the Court will advise you how to opt out and provide you with a deadline for opting out and the address to which the opt -out notice should be sent. If you opt out, you will not be able to file objections to the settlement, and you will not be eligible to file a claim against the settlement fund when and if the settlement receives “final” approval from the Court. In other words, you will receive no compensation from the settlement fund if you opt out. If you continue to pursue litigation against Visa and MasterCard by opting out, you must retain counsel at your own expense. The current class counsel will no longer represent you.

2) Object to The Settlement. You may file objections to the settlement without waiving your right to file a claim against the settlement fund after final approval is given. You may not object to the settlement if you opt out. The deadline to file your objections is July 23, 2019. Click here and go to page 12 to learn how to object or call 1-800-625-6440. If you have any questions concerning the objection process, you can also reach out to PMAA General Counsel Al Alfano or Bob Bassman.

3.  Do Nothing. If you neither opt out of the settlement class nor file an objection, you will be eligible to file a claim against the settlement fund at the appropriate time after final approval of the settlement is given by the Court. After final approval is given, either in November of 2019 or later, you will receive a claim form from the Court with instructions on how to fill it out and the address to which it should be sent by regular mail or electronically. When you receive the Court-approved Notice, read it carefully to decide whether to opt out, to file objections, or to simply do nothing. As long as you do not opt out of the settlement class, you will be eligible to file a claim against the settlement fund at the appropriate time, provided you are a retailer who accepted Visa or MasterCard.

If you accepted the cards during the settlement period and do not receive the Court approved notice by March 15 ^th, please contact the Class Administrator:

Call the toll-free number: 1-800-625-6440

Visit www.PaymentCardSettlement.com

Write to: Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement, P.O. Box 2530, Portland, OR 97208-2530

Email: [email protected].

EPA EPCRA Tier II reports were to be filed by March 1, 2019 for the 2018 reporting year. Facilities that store over 10,000 pounds of hazardous chemicals onsite at any point during the previous calendar year must file an EPCRA Tier II report. This means any amount of petroleum product stored on site, in bulk plants (above ground and underground), marinas, wholesale fleet fueling facilities, skid tanks and heating oil tanks used to heat facility buildings must be counted towards the 10,000-pound reporting threshold. Also, retail gasoline facilities with 75,000 gallons or less of gasoline storage capacity and 100,000 gallons or less of diesel fuel storage capacity are exempt from EPCRA reporting requirements. Retail gasoline facilities with storage capacities greater than the 75,000/100,000-gallon reporting threshold do not qualify for this exemption. Instead, these facilities must apply the 10,000-pound threshold to determine whether an EPCRA Tier II report must be filed.

Click here to view the compliance bulletin from PMAA Counsel.

(PMAA)

A new bill was dropped last week in the Senate, S. 665, sponsored by Sen. Gillibrand (D-NY), that would require new side underride protection for trailers and straight trucks with a gross vehicle weight over 10,000 pounds.

 

The proposed legislation is important to petroleum marketers because it would require a costly retrofit of transport cargo tank trailers and single unit cargo tank trucks. Specifically, the bill would require the U.S. DOT to adopt regulations that would require: the installation of side underride rails on new and existing commercial motor vehicles (CMV) cargo tank trucks and trailers; and new performance standards, inspection and maintenance requirements for front, rear and side underride protection equipment. The bill is problematic for marketers because it would require virtually all CMVs and CMV trailers to be removed from service, brought to a certified cargo tank inspection and maintenance facility, cleaned and purged of residue and vapors and installation of new side underride rails and possibly replacement of existing rear underride rails that do not meet new equipment performance standards. The bill is particularly troubling because there is no practical or safe way to install side rail underride protection on bottom loading cargo tank vehicles and transport trailers. 

The bill would impose huge compliance costs on all petroleum marketers operating cargo tank vehicles and trailers. The U.S. DOT attempted to impose similar requirements specifically targeting bottom loading vehicles and trailers. 

The U.S. DOT attempted a similar rulemaking back in 1998 but eventually withdrew the proposed rule after fierce opposition by PMAA and other trucking interests. That rulemaking was eventually withdrawn by a study partially funded by PMAA found that more people would die during retrofit installation of side rails than those killed in cargo tank underride traffic accidents. PMAA opposes efforts to mandate costly underride equipment retrofits.

PMAA will meet with members of Congress to highlight our concerns with the bill.

(PMAA)

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a significant crack down on the sale of ecigarettes and other tobacco products by retailers. The FDA has identified 15 national retail chains, either corporate-owned or franchised, whose rates of violative inspections exceed 15 percent of their total inspected stores since the inception of the FDA’s retailer compliance check inspection program in 2010.

According to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., "Last fall, we marked a historic milestone of conducting a total of one million tobacco retailer inspections since the program began in 2010. This work has resulted in more than 81,570 warning letters to retailers for violating the law as well as the issuance of more than 19,800 civil money penalties and about 145 no-tobacco-sale orders for repeated violations.” Click here for the full announcement. 

The National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) countered that the FDA used faulty methodology in calculating the violation rates. Specifically, “The FDA Commissioner’s statement lists 15 retail chains that have accumulated an aggregate of 15 percent to 44 percent violation rates by their respective stores at which tobacco products were sold to underage individuals under the FDA retail inspection program since 2010. This statement needs to be put into perspective given that the FDA has been conducting retail store compliance checks for nine years now. According to the Commissioner’s statement, 15 store chains had sales to minors violations in 15 percent or more of ‘their total inspected stores since the inception of the FDA’s retailer compliance check inspection program in 2010. This means that a retailer which accumulated an aggregate 44 percent violation rate over the nine-year period could have, on average, experienced a 95 percent successful passing rate each year with approximately 5 percent of its stores inspected incurring a violation on an annual basis. According to the FDA’s method of determining aggregate violation rates, this estimated 5 percent violation rate would be added up for each of the nine consecutive years to obtain an approximate, but cumulative, 45 percent failure rate.”

Following the e-cigarette announcement, Commissioner Gottlieb, announced that he planned to resign next month. According to Gottlieb’s colleagues, his resignation had been planned for a while, he felt that he’d set in motion many of his goals on e-cigarettes, and he was leaving the administration on good terms. He was said to have been frustrated by the government shutdown and had grown tired from the commute each week back and forth to Connecticut.

It is not clear how his retirement will impact the campaign to curb youth use of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products, but in a sign that some investors see Gottlieb’s departure as a possible opening for a more relaxed regulatory regime, tobacco company stocks briefly jumped after Gottlieb’s departure was reported. Also, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kenneth Shea, “The reported departure of FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, could lead to the easing of intensified scrutiny on the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes in the U.S. Gottlieb has been an aggressive crusader in protecting underage users from the potential harm associated with e-cigarettes.”

PMAA continues to take the FDA announcement seriously. Please reach out to your lawmakers and urge them to tell the White House not to ban sales of flavored e-cigarette products at convenience stores. Click here to do so.  

In other tobacco news, on Tuesday a federal judge in Boston ordered the FDA to create graphic health warnings for cigarette packs and related advertising to show what tobacco can do to the body. The order follows a lawsuit by groups that say graphic warnings are most effective at preventing people from smoking. The judge ordered the agency to complete a study of the graphic warnings by April 15, submit a rule mandating the warnings for publication by August 15, and have the warnings ready by March 15, 2020.

(PMAA)

Marijuana in the Workplace

Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 1:00 p.m. CT

60 minutes | Advance registration required

Employers are increasingly perplexed about how to avoid mistakes in confronting the use of marijuana by employees, on and off the clock. In this webinar, we will explain recent changes in state law, and we will suggest some effective guidelines for establishing workplace safety and productivity in this fast-changing environment. We will talk about medical marijuana, what steps employers can take today — and what steps they should avoid — when confronted with a medical marijuana issue in the workplace. This webinar will be rounded out with some concrete, real-world examples and frequently occurring scenarios, which any employer can learn from.   

Register Now! You may access this and other webinars on federatedinsurance.com.