07-10-07 by dugan
A little-known organization of industry representatives and state regulators will decide tomorrow whether to start fixing the "hot fuel" ripoff of motorists. We’re not betting on a win, given the consumer-deficient membership of the National Conference of Weights and Measures.
If the group votes against reform, despite Congressional urging for change, Congress and state governments have no choice but to do it themselves.
If you’ve never heard of the NCWM, as it’s called, you’re like most of us. The group of about 2,400 paid members isn’t part of the federal government. Yet in practice its state-level bureaucrats and industry "experts" decide federal regulations on weights and measures, right down to the scales at your supermarket and the pumps at your gasoline station.
The NCWM is nearing the end of its annual meeting at the luxury Snowbird resort outside Salt Lake City, where where I’ve made a few terrified runs down the steep side of its ski slopes. The NCWM is on an even slipperier slope, having known for decades about the "hot fuel" issue. It is perfectly aware that a U.S. company already manufactures nozzles that measure the temperature of gasoline as it’s pumped into your tank. Yet a combination of industry pressure and regulators’ lethargy has kept the ripoff in place.
Here’s a recap of how it works: Gasoline, like any liquid, expands as it gets warmer. Warmer gas provides less energy per gallon, about a 1% loss for every 30 degrees. At every part of the sales chain except the retail pump, prices are adjusted to a standard of 60 degrees. Refiners provide extra gallons to distributors, who provide extra gallons to gas stations, to make up for heat expansion. But when you and I buy gasoline, it’s not adjusted.
If gasoline is 80 degrees, which is common in a warm state like California, we lose about 2 cents a gallon worth of energy, or 50 cents a fill-up on a 25-gallon tank. For most people, that’s about a $100-a-year tax. Everyone else up the Big Oil chain profits on our loss.
The total loss to motorists is about $2.3 billion a year nationwide, and $450 million a year just in California (where the year-round average pump temperature is about 75 degrees).
The NCWM is perfectly aware that in Canada, where gasoline averages slightly less than 60 degrees, gasoline is adjusted for temperature at the pump–because the industry would lose money if it wasn’t. Yet in the United States it is "too much trouble and expense" to sell gasoline honestly.
We’ll be watching for the vote tomorrow. Maybe the 8,000-foot altitude of Snowbird will make the NCWM’s ruling body lightheaded enough to be fair to consumers. We wish.
If the vote goes the wrong way, we look forward to quick action by our duly elected representatives.