08-27-07 by dugan
I’m in Chicago with the weights and measures regulators, at the nerd meeting to surpass all nerd meetings. I’m mostly nerd myself, and loving it. But the real story is that it’s looking a little easier to get a fix for the "hot fuel" ripoff. And, now we know who’s really behind the California assembly’s useless "hot fuel" bill.
Some high points:
* The group that will write the regulations (the National Conference on Weights and Measures) seems more confident than it had even a few months ago about the technical part of compensating gasoline sales for temperature. One panelist noted that Canada isn’t having a problem doing it, and there were many suggestions for streamlining the process.
* Opponents, mainly wholesale and distribution groups, are having to give up the complexity argument and switch to "we don’t see that it’s really a problem, and furthermore we can’t give up any of our profit margin." But the issue isn’t their profit, it’s selling a fair gallon for a fair price, especially when consumers pay up to a dime a gallon in lost energy when fuel gets summer-hot.
* One opposition group let slip a fascinating tidbit about California’s useless excuse for "hot fuel" legislation. A gasoline marketers’ coalition said in a handout statement at the meeting that the bill "is being cosponsored by the California Independent Oil Marketers Association." In legi-speak, that usually means they wrote the bill. Which makes it even more revolting that its sponsor, Assemblyman Mike Davis, is on radio and in print touting it as a great boon to consumers. The bill is nothing more than a delaying tactic, and now we know why.
* A panelist at the first session told an audience member who tried to deliver a prepared speech to "take your opinions to the state and regional meetings" of the Conference of Weights and Measures. "That," said the panelist, "is where the decisions will be made." My question to that: petroleum lobbies will spend whatever it takes to get to those meetings and make their case, but who in the consumer world can afford to do the same? If volume of complaint will be the deciding factor, we’re dead. But we’re still counting on California’s regulators to do better than its legislators.