Legislation in the Air
This issue of Fuel Oil News is heavy on the oil side and on legislation. It just happens to be one of those months. It also provides an additional opportunity to clarify again, as I have in the past in this space, the nuance on how you can honestly and even environmentally oppose Washington-based cap and trade legislation to address climate change yet support industry efforts towards a greenhouse gas fuel standard for heating oil.
In a nutshell, cap and trade will cost your business money, hurt the economy and still not deliver on impactful environmental benefits without the full cooperation of countries like China and India ‘ which are not going to cooperate.
Steve Bennett’s article on the GHG initiatives underway on the East Coast, with some degree of industry support, do make much more sense for heating oil dealers (but not so much for the motor fuels folk).
The nutshell there is that you could eliminate all global warming initiatives tomorrow and green would still be cool in the key markets in which the industry does business ‘ the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and the Northwest. Gas utilities would still green-market against heating oil. They would still work legislatively to see incentives put in place for gas and disincentives for oil at the government and regulatory levels. And many customers would still see positives with companies offering a greener solution to their heating needs.
Also covered in this issue is some analysis by Peter Beutel concerning our current oil prices. Peter is a very bright guy who tends to be ahead of the curve where price trends are concerned. He is also helping PMAA and NEFI with some of their CFTC regulatory issues, which is similarly covered in this issue as a new Senate bill has left committee that promises to shed some light on the dark markets.
Corrections:
The Liquid Controls listing in the March issue of the computer guide should have read:
Liquid Controls, LLC
A unit of Idex Corporation
105 Albrecht Dr.
Lake Bluff, IL 60044
(847) 295-1050
Fax: (847) 295-1057
E-mail: <i>info.lcmeter@idexcorp.com<i>
Primary Market: Worldwide
Contact person: Royal Wollberg
Type of Service(s) Offered: Meters and electronic registers for fixed and mobile custody transfer-flow measurement.
Hardware Offered: Yes
The U.E.i listing in the 2010 SourceBook should have read:
U.E.i.
8030 SW Nimbus Avenue
Beaverton, OR 97008
(800) 547-5740
(503) 644-8723
Contact: seant@ueitest.com