Florida DEP reviewing list of stations subject to generator law

A list of stations that must comply with Florida’s generator law is being reviewed, and an updated version is expected to be issued “any day now,” Sarah Williams, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Environmental Protection told NPN MarketPulse.

The version of the list now in the works will be at least the third to be issued by the state. Earlier in May, the DEP had said the generator law applied to some 250 Florida stations, but then it announced that the statute actually applied to 1,584 stations.

Jim Smith, president of the Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association (FPMA) told NPN MarketPulse that, based on conversations that day with DEP officials, he expected the updated list to number fewer than 1,000 stations once it came out, but Williams, the DEP spokesperson, would not say how many stations would be on the list. She said May 30 that it was still being compiled.

Asked whether the criteria for the list had been changed, she pointed out that the criteria are spelled out in the state law, and had not changed.

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.

A guide on how distributors and retailers can comply with the generator law is posted on the FPMA Web site. It is titled “Understanding The Generator Bill And Your Obligations,” and can be viewed at http://www.fpma.org/pdf_PetroInfo/082106Generatorbill.pdf.

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. He didn’t know how many of those are “generator-capable” today, he said.

Experts at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 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.