TRENTON – With the New
Jersey Legislature still considering a requirement that gasoline stations
install generators, retailers are ramping up their opposition, the Record
reports. Hurricane season began June 1 and runs through November 30.
Lawmakers introduced
legislation that would mandate state gasoline station have back-up power, such
as generators, in response to last October’s Superstorm Sandy. Close to 12
measures are before the Assembly and Senate related to generators at gasoline
stations.
“This is not a simple
issue like going to Home Depot, grabbing one of those generators, hooking it up
and plugging your pumps in,” said Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New
Jersey Gasoline C-Store Automotive Association. “If that was it, I don't think
anybody would be squawking.”
Not many retailers
currently have generators, given the cost of installing and maintaining the
back-up power source. But generators won’t solve the underlying problem that
Sandy triggered: no fuel. Damage to distribution terminals at ports disabled
supply lines to North Jersey retailers.
“The problem was not
power,” said Risalvato. “The problem was no gas…If every gas station prior to
the storm had a backup generator, you would have seen the identical situation.”
In February, Risalvato
testified before the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness
Committee on this issue. Currently, the only bill favored by Risalvato and many
retailers is one that would put in place a test program that would give 0%
loans up to $10,000 to gasoline stations along evacuation routes to be wired
for generator hookup.
In neighboring New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants
a third
of all state retail fuels locations to have the proper wiring for backup
power. A backgrounder on how Hurricane Sandy affected the fuels market and a
look at possible solutions to avoid future problems (hint: not generators) was
published as part of the 2013
NACS Retail Fuels Report. It notes, "(T)o mandate generators at stores
would not have helped with Sandy, given the widespread upstream problems. If
power is out at the store, it is likely that the nearby upstream operations are
also without power. No amount of power at the retail station would expedite the
delivery of fuel if these systems are not operable."