Shane Sweet
BIO :
Shane Sweet is the Principal of Shane Sweet LLC , a Florida-based energy consulting firm to the propane , heating oil and motor fuel sectors . The company represents products and services , and works with trade associations . In 2020 Sweet co-founded VirtualPropaneExpo . com and in 2021 he co-founded propaneandoiltraining . com with colleague Mike Digiorgio . He also consults with Subject Matter Experts on regulatory compliance for legal actions involving propane . In addition to 15 years in the retail oil and propane business , Sweet served as the primary executive for the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association , the New England Fuel Institute ( now the National Energy & Fuels Institute ) and the New York Propane Gas Association . Sweet can be reached at shanesweet @ shanesweet . com .
New York Has A Propane Container Law
NYPGA Executive Director Bill Overbaugh discussed New York state ’ s new container law in his remarks to members at the Spring Conference at the Desmond Crowne Plaza in Albany . Fuel Oil News Photo by Stephen Bennett .
The New York Propane Gas Association ( nypropane . com ) announced recently that the state now has a propane tank “ container law ” on the books .
For those who have not followed this process , NYPGA has been pursuing the passage of a container law for the better part of 10 years .
Lawmakers in New York twice passed container law legislation , twice sent it to the governor for signature , and twice it was vetoed by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo .
The irony here is that the passage of the container law grew from a so-called “ propane emergencies ” bill stemming from a January 2018 incident involving a propane customer near Albany . Reporting by the New York media added steam and urgency to an issue that could have been mitigated immediately . Instead , the propane industry was essentially pronounced guilty and sent to the proverbial legislative gallows , post-haste .
Worse , the original legislation allowed an “ emergency ” to be declared by pretty much anyone . Naturally , that ambiguity was of great concern to propane marketers in New York at the time .
It was a classic case of a solution looking for a problem .
The original propane emergencies bill was ostensibly proposed to allow for protection of consumers in cases where a customer ’ s supplier was unable to deliver to the customer ( for any reason ). It would have allowed another supplier to deliver to the customer ’ s tank .
The only problem was , there was nothing on the books in New York to stop Propane Company A from delivering propane to a tank owned by Propane Company B .
Yes , you read that right : The law proposed a fix for a problem that legislatively and regulatorily speaking did not exist in New York at the time . The proposed legislation would have “ allowed ” a propane company to deliver propane to a tank owned by another supplier . Permission given where none was needed . Right . The fact that New York had nothing resembling a container law at the time was apparently lost on the lawmaker who proposed the law in the first place , notwithstanding the propane industry ’ s countless attempts to explain this to him . In fact , the lawmaker in question would not take a meeting with the propane industry , and never did . Needless to say , certain lawmakers milked the issue for everything it was worth , and considerable gaslighting ( no pun intended ) ensued .
The result was a draconian bill sponsored by an activist lawmaker not long after the original January 2018 event , and nearly four years later , in 2022 , an amended version of the “ propane emergency fill bill ” passed both houses of the legislature in New York .
The original version was ill-conceived and fraught with liability problems . However , in 2022 NYPGA managed to get the attention of the ( new ) governor ’ s office , explained its liability concerns , and proposed wording for a “ chapter amendment ” that mitigated the liability issues , and lastly , provide the industry the added protection of a container law when an emergency situation is not in effect .
In December , 2022 , New York Governor Kathy Hochul agreed to sign the bill , provided certain amendments were passed to address the liability problems .
Those amendments were introduced early in the legislative session , both houses passed them , and on December 8 , 2022 , the governor signed the propane emergencies legislation and its embedded container law . The law applies only to propane residential customers . l FON
36 MAY 2023 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www . fueloilnews . com