Florida threatens fines if operators aren’t generator-ready by June 1

Florida authorities have said they will fine gas station operators if their sites aren’t generator-ready by June 1, the official start of hurricane season; but the president of the Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association told NPN MarketPulse that state law makes no provision for such fines.

State inspectors have said they will report violators to local state attorney offices for prosecution, according to an article in the Palm Beach Post. The offense is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine, according to the Post article, but Jim Smith, president of FPMCSA said, “That language is not in the bill.” He likened the comments of state officials to those of a “schoolyard bully,” and accused officials of using the state’s petroleum/convenience industry as “a whipping boy.”

The law requires gas stations near evacuation routes to be wired for a generator hookup or have a generator installed by the beginning of the 2007 hurricane season.

Last week, Florida's Department of Environmental Protection said the law applied to only 254 Florida stations, Smith said. But later the DEP changed its interpretation and announced that the statute actually applied to 1,584 stations, Smith said.

“I am annoyed,” Smith said. There were no details about the stations that make up the new, much larger group, according to Smith, who reeled off questions: “What are the criteria [that put stations in the larger group]? Have the operators been notified? Who has complied?”

The Miami Herald reported May 22 that station owners are scrambling to comply, and that 145 DEP inspectors were scheduled to scour the state this week to find out how many stations are ready.

There are approximately 9,200 gas stations in Florida, according to Smith; of that number, between 5,300 and 5,400 are operated by members of the Tallahassee-based association, Smith said.

Meanwhile, experts at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center are projecting a 75-percent chance that the Atlantic hurricane season will be will be above normal this year, according to a May 22 announcement posted on the NOAA Web site.

"For the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, NOAA scientists predict 13 to 17 named storms, with seven to 10 becoming hurricanes, of which three to five could become major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. An average Atlantic hurricane season brings 11 named storms, with six becoming hurricanes, including two major hurricanes.

Smith noted that under normal circumstances Florida is totally dependent on waterborne transportation to receive fuel. “There are no pipelines in Florida,” he pointed out. Average daily usage in the state amounts to 26 million gallons of gasoline and diesel, according to Smith. In three days – the time that a hurricane might be expected to force suspension of fuel deliveries over water – the shortage would add up to 78 million gallons, Smith noted. It takes the state 10 days to recover from that supply disruption, he said.