January 2, 2024

In Brief

First of all, Happy New Year from the Texas Propane Gas Association. Welcome to the latest edition of the Tuesday Telegraph, which replaces the Messenger on holidays.

In the first story of the morning, the association wanted to inform you about an upcoming worthwhile propane industry event next week in Houston.

In our second story of the morning, TPGA reflects on the top legislation from this past Texas Legislative Session and all of legislative successes of 2023.

In our third story of the morning, TPGA reviews some of the top regulatory stories of the year and links to any you may have missed.

In the fourth story of the morning, we report on the National Propane Gas Association's efforts on the national front to protect the propane industry from new detrimental rulemaking from the feds.

Explore our Quick Links section, offering access to the latest Winter Weekly Update, propane tank locator decals through PSC, the Clean School Bus Grant Program, and the Texas Saves with Propane Rebate Program from ProCOT.

In this issue

In Brief
LPG Annual Mixer
Top 2023 Legislation
2023 Regulatory News
New NPGA Lawsuit
Quick Links

Calendar

January 10, 2024

February Texas Propane magazine ad deadline

January 11, 2024

LPG Charity Fund Annual Awareness Mixer

January 31, 2024

EPA Clean School Bus

Grant Program

January 31, 2024

2023 Propane Appliance Rebate Extended Deadline

FULL CALENDAR

Affinity Partners

Lone Star Energy Group Workers Comp Insurance

Basys Credit Card Processing

NoCell Technologies

Save the Date: LPG Charity Fund Annual Mixer Next Week

Event Date: Thursday January 11, 2024

Where: Patterson Park, 2205 Patterson Street - Houston, TX 77007

Event Starts at 4:00 PM LPG Mixer

The LPG Charity Fund would like to invite everyone in the LPG industry from logistics to marketing, from IT to trading, from brokers to back-office support to attend an evening of complimentary appetizers, great drink specials and amazing raffle prizes to their annual mixer at Patterson Park in Houston.

The Annual LPG Charity Fund Afternoon Mixer has been organized to inform, educate and make everyone aware of the impact that the LPG industry has on the LPG Charity Fund's mission which is to assist members of the LPG and Gas Processing industry during times of catastrophic medical expenses and/or financial need.

Please RSVP to the event if you plan to attend.

RSVP

Looking Back:

Top Texas Legislative

TPGA Issues of 2023

2023 marked a legislative year for the Lone Star State. Something that only happens once every other year. The Texas Propane Gas Association (TPGA) concluded the Texas Regular Legislative Session with resounding success by passing instrumental legislation and thwarting detrimental legislation.

Texans were successful in voting for one of the biggest property tax cuts in Texas history through constitutional amendment changes in 2023.

In addition to pivotal constitutional amendments, one of the biggest successes of the legislative session was the passage of the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act. Texas House Bill 2127 authored by Rep. Burrows. The legislation caused quite a stir as it puts an end to the creation of local ordinances that exceed the boundaries set by state law. These ordinances cover a range of important areas such as labor (any business), natural resources (including the LP Gas industry), and finance.

Another huge win for our industry is that every single bill that TPGA deemed high risk failed to pass:

SB 1529 by Senator Borris Miles. Enhanced notification requirements for notifications within 500 ft of an installation of 10,000 gallons or more.
SB 1922 by Senator Borris Miles. Creating a 1 mile notification requirement for LP Gas installations over 10,000 gallons or more.
SB 1531 by Senator Borris Miles would have further addressed objections to LP-Gas installations over 10,000 gallons.
SB 1530 by Senator Borris Miles would have required blast radius reports be submitted to city and county officials for storage tanks over 5,000 gallons.
HB 4592 by Representative Bobby Guerra would have created new requirements for LPG community system operators if a customer was unemployed.
HB 3982 by Representative Alma Allen would have created new requirements for propane bulk terminals to include area state legislator notification, 150 yard public notification, leak monitoring, emergency alert system, and other requirement.

NPGA Lawsuits Against U.S. Department of Energy Expanding

Speaking of all the headlines on government banning of gas appliances through a variety of different federal rulemakings, in October, the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) joined the American Gas Association and American Public Gas Association, suing the Department of Energy over its Final Rule for Commercial Water Heaters in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.

With the December 18 release of the DOE Final Rule on Consumer Furnaces, the coalition has sued the Department of Energy again. NPGA will seek to consolidate the two cases along with a third suit on DOE’s Interpretive Rule, in which DOE decided not to have a separate product class for non-condensing appliances.

All three of these suits focus on whether DOE should have established a separate product class for non-condensing appliances under the Energy Policy & Conservation Act.

NPGA is consulting with outside counsel regularly to provide information and bolster arguments to protect consumer choice and preserve efficient appliances from government overreach and flawed regulations.

TPGA will keep members abreast of any developments in these suits in this New Year.