CA gas stations could get reprieve in vapor-free new nozzle fight
April 1st was the deadline for California gas stations to install new and cleaner pump nozzles or potentially close up shop because they were not in compliance with a 2000 rule from the California Air Resources Board. The problem for CARB was the gas vapors that escaped into the air, equivalent to smog-producing emissions of 450,000 cars a day, when using the old pumps. The problem for gas station owners was the $11,000 cost per pump to upgrade. A new bill is moving through the state legislature, and will be voted on this coming week, that seeks to prevent the station shut-downs by capping fines for a year at $1,000 if the stations have not installed the new nozzles. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he is in favor of an "enforcement holiday" if the stations are making good-faith efforts to comply with the CARB rule. Another bill would create a fund to help gas station owners install the pumps.
[Source: San Francisco Chronicle]
Photo by bradleypjohnson. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick 4:53PM (5/03/2009)
"gas vapors that escaped into the air, equivalent to smog-producing emissions of 450,000 cars a day, when using the old pumps. "
Holy c*** that's a LOT of emissions! This definitely needs to be addressed, since so much oil is evaporating, gas stations will earn it back in savings over the long term.
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Ignatius 5:46PM (5/03/2009)
What, are we censoring CRAP now?
Come on...
Herm 7:27AM (5/04/2009)
The part they dont mention is that those modern 450,000 cars are not putting much pollution in the air.. when you start using statistics like that you end up putting catalytic converters on small lawnmowers that get used once a week.. and banning gas barbecues.
why not the LS2LS7? 12:24PM (5/04/2009)
450,000 vehicles put quite a bit of emissions into the air. Less than they used to, but still.
CARB uses overall in-use emissions methods to decide what to attack next. For example, they have already applied emissions standards to lawnmowers and leaf blowers (although no catalytic converters are used, just better fuel metering basically) because by their measurements they do account for a significant portion of emissions.
I don't know about your area of the country, but gas grills get used a lot here in California. However, since they use natural gas they don't give off much emissions. CARB went after commercial charcoal broilers a long time ago because they accounted for a large percentage of particulate emissions.
why not the LS2LS7? 5:05PM (5/03/2009)
CARB already asked for lax enforcement.
Also, April 1 was a while ago and anyone who lives in California may have noticed that gas stations didn't close en masse.
Also, the costs (as I mentioned last time) aren't really per-pump. It's not nozzles. Never was. The change is not adding vapor collection, we already have that. It's that the vapors must be returned to a storage tank where they will be captured by the fueling truck and returned to the refinery.
There is a cost to the system, and it definitely goes up with larger stations as you might expect. The estimated cost for an 8 pump station is about $80,000 (for example) all in (that is, including installation) and there are state-backed loans (and have been for years despite what the article says) available to help the operators come up with the money.
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Tohe 5:33PM (5/03/2009)
Instead of going after station owners, why doesn't the State impose a higher sale tax on oil sold to non compliant stations? This way you get the oil companies involved and interested in helping individual stations upgrade. Further measures can be taken to protect possibly disadvantaged gas stations. This seems like a win scenario for both the stations and the State.
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John Rowell 6:21PM (5/03/2009)
That wouldn't be fair to the many station owners who have invested in upgrading their pump nozzles prior to the deadline. I've got a better idea: how about the state offer low-interest loans to finance the upgrades for those who are having difficulty complying.
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why not the LS2LS7? 10:07PM (5/03/2009)
They have offered loans to pay for the equipment for years.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/vapor/Nov08Progressreport.pdf
Gas stations just didn't install the equipment because they didn't want to increase their overhead. So they put it off and then failed to follow through. I can't send a note to the IRS on April 15th, I have to send in my taxes. These places should follow their obligations.
John Rowell 2:08PM (5/04/2009)
Well if the gas stations can get loans for this, what are they complaining about?! Actually all the gas stations I've seen already have vapor recovery - there were a couple that didn't, but they do now - so there must be just a few that haven't made the upgrade. It seems they really have no excuse ... but there are always some people who will fight against change.
Noz 9:16PM (5/03/2009)
Being cheap towards the environment ALWAYS ends up being more expensive.
When will people learn that spending a little more TODAY will help out a lot more TOMORROW.
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Floorman56 12:05PM (5/04/2009)
Just Big Oil trying to shut down cheaper Mom and Pop stations
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Angela 3:08AM (7/22/2009)
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