HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 718

BYRepresentatives Rust, Walker and Unsoeld

Requiring gasoline delivery trucks to be equipped with meters and provide a receipt.

House Committe on Environmental Affairs

Majority Report:     The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (10)

     Signed by Representatives Rust, Chair; Valle, Vice Chair; Allen, Brekke, Jesernig, Lux, Pruitt, Sprenkle, Unsoeld and Walker.

Minority Report:     Do not pass.  (3)

     Signed by Representatives Ferguson, May and D. Sommers.

House Staff:Bonnie Austin (786-7107)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS MARCH 3, 1987

BACKGROUND:

Leaking underground storage tanks containing petroleum products may pose a risk to the environment, especially to groundwater.  Current inventory procedures utilized by operators of service stations to measure the volume of gasoline in the tanks may be inadequate to detect small leaks because they do not provide for precise measurement.

Gasoline volume of underground tanks is currently determined by "dipping" the tanks with gage sticks and comparing the measurement with daily sales and deliveries.  An accurate measurement of the gasoline delivered into the tanks is dependent upon the availability of certain information necessary to compensate for temperature changes.  Temperature compensation is essential to inventory monitoring, since temperature shifts cause expansion or contraction of the volume of gasoline.  If service station operators know the temperature and gross volume amount of the fuel at the time it was metered on the shipping truck at the supply terminal, the net volume of the gasoline at 60 degrees Fahrenheit,  and the time of delivery to service station tanks, the service station operator can compensate for the effects of temperature on gasoline storage.

The director of the Department of Agriculture is responsible under the 1969 Weights and Measures Act (RCW 19.94) for inspecting motor vehicle fuel pumps and investigating complaints.  Initial violations of the Weights and Measures Act are misdemeanors, and second or subsequent violations are gross misdemeanors.

SUMMARY:

SUBSTITUTE BILL: Persons delivering gasoline shall provide the service station with an invoice detailing the gross volume of gasoline and the net volume of gasoline at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the time and temperature of the gasoline as it was loaded into the delivery truck, and the time of delivery to the retail service station.

SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  The provision requiring tanker trucks to be equipped with meters capable of measuring the amount of gasoline delivered is deleted.  The invoice must also include the net volume of the gasoline at 60 degrees Fahrenheit and the time of delivery.

Fiscal Note:    Requested February 19, 1987.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:     Tim Hamilton, AUTO.

House Committee - Testified Against: John Morse, ARCO.

House Committee - Testimony For:     Without precise information on the amount of gas delivered into storage tanks, retail dealers cannot detect small leaks.  The delivery trucks have all of this information at their disposal and only need a watch and a thermometer to comply.

House Committee - Testimony Against: This information is already available to retail dealers upon request.  This information will not make any difference if operators fail to reconcile their levels on a daily basis.