Crisis at the Pump: California’s Minority and Urban Communities Face Wide Scale Gas Station Shutdowns |
| Posted on Mar 30 2009 |
Sacramento, CA - With eight days before the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Enhanced Vapor Recovery (EVR) deadline minority communities are bracing for the impact.
Come April first 6000 to 8000 gas stations could be forced to close if they do not meet the CARB mandate. Should this happen it would be devastating to California's urban and minority communities. Legislators and other stakeholders have come together today to call on the CARB and Governor Schwarzenegger to extend this deadline by one year to April 1, 2010 thus avoiding the crisis.
State Senator Ron Calderon said, "This deadline must be extended. If these station owners are forced to close, the state could lose $3 billion dollars in gas tax revenues. Transit projects will be shelved. More jobs will be lost - another blow to our battered economy. I'm for greener gas pumps, but these owners need more time. Let's not put people out of work and cause communities to suffer."
"With just ... days until the enforcement deadline, more than 78% of California's 11,000 gas stations will not be able to meet the standard and will be forced to shut down. Minority and inner city areas will be hit especially hard. This extension request is consistent with Senate Bill 155 which granted rural gas stations a two year extension and postponed enforcement of EVR until April 1, 2011," commented State Senator Roderick Wright.
Legislators were not the only ones to voice their concerns. Marc Burgat with the California Chamber of Commerce went on to say, "Small businesses are the lifeline in California. They serve our communities, create jobs and help our state prosper. At this time in our economy we cannot afford to lose more small businesses and put hard-working individuals out of work. We urge CARB and the Governor to take another look at the EVR deadline and the impact it will have on California's small businesses and consumers of the state."
Gil Moore owns and operates New West Petroleum. Recently they have sold 26 of their 29 gas stations in the San Diego area due to the high cost of doing business in the county. "We are trying to bring 3 of our remaining 8 stations in California into EVR compliance but have not been able to for a variety of reasons. The difficulty of securing financing when the banks have basically shut down; the inability to receive CUP permits in a timely manner-that is taking 6 to 12 months depending up on the area; only one equipment supplier making the timing difficult for most of the upgrades; and most important the lack of time from qualified contractors attempting to rush this work on the remaining thousands of gasoline sites trying to get into compliance," said Moore. "We are small family owned company and have already spent over $300,000 to bring 5 stations into EVR compliance. We want to do what is right we just need more time."
The solution to avoid this crisis is simple -- extend the deadline by one year. The question is will the CARB and the Governor have the wisdom and the foresight to take the necessary actions to avoid this crisis at the pump?
Last changed: Mar 30 2009 at 2:56 PM
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