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August 2, 2018

Dear NJGCA Member:

Thank you for reading this week's NJGCA Road Warrior!

Here is what you will find in this edition:

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:

• Operator Training Practice Exam-Use It! Harsh Culture Brewing in Trenton

NJGCA CLASSIFIEDS
- Monmouth County: Gas Station and Repair Shop Business Since 2001
- Bergen County: Shell Gas Station with 6-Bay Repair Shop for Sale

NEWS AROUND THE STATE
• Murphy administration is shaking down polluters over toxic sites with 6 new lawsuits
• Oil Edges Lower on Surprise U.S. Crude Stockpile Build
• House Republicans suggest they want to make SALT deduction caps permanent
• Starbucks, others must pay California workers for tasks done after clocking out: court
• ICE targets 75 N.J. businesses suspected of hiring unauthorized immigrants or other violations
• Chart of the day: EVs and home ownership
• The time has come to get N.J.'s most insane laws off the books. Let's start with these.

TRAINING CLASS SCHEDULE!
??????• Emissions Inspector Training Class, THURSDAY, August 9th, WEDNESDAY September 19th, THURSDAY October 18th

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE BOARD
• The Amato Agency: Garage Insurance and Workers Compensation!
• ATS Environmental: Confidence in your Tank & Compliance Testing
• Bellomo Fuel: Exceptional Service, Aggressive Petroleum Marketing
• CBIZ Insurance: Our Business is Growing Yours!
• Gill Energy: Getting you There!
• Lending Capital: "Commercial Loans Made Easy" Program
• Salomone Brothers: Tank Testing and Environmental Compliance
• TMP Energy Solutions: Another Way to Save On Your Energy Bills

POLITICAL PARTICIPATON: THE NJGCA PAC
• Participate in the NJGCA PAC today and help us keep our Agenda rolling in Trenton!

Energy Information Agency Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices

JOIN NJGCA ON FACEBOOK -- CLICK HERE
TO SEE OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL -- CLICK HERE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE:

OPERATOR TRAINING PRACTICE EXAM-USE IT!
HARSH CULTURE BREWING IN TRENTON

First off I am pleased to report that the EPA’s practice exams are finally back up and running for all of you who still need to take their UST A/B certification test. We’re happy that many of you have already utilized this tool and the feedback has been very positive, so I want to encourage all of you who still have to take the A/B test to use this tool yourself and take this practice exam. We have heard that the test is quite challenging and a number of owners have had to take it more than once (and pay the fee each time), so make sure you take some time, sit down, and give the practice exam AT LEAST one attempt.

Here are some instructions that Debbie put together to make it easier:

Here is the link to the Practice Operator Training Test on the EPA website.

https://www.epa.gov/ust/class-a-and-class-b-ust-operator

Follow these instructions:
Click link above
Click the Access the UST operator exam
Click Comprehensive Exam
Click View Exams – bottom left of screen
Enter your email address, First and Last Name
Answer the following:
       Type of Facility: Marketer
       Your Designated Operator Class: Both A&B
       Original Training or Retraining: Original Training
       How many years an operator: Click your answer
Click View

                You will then have access to all the practice exams!

As I’ve been saying since last year’s election, the culture in Trenton is shifting and it is going to be more important than ever that every law and regulation is properly and fully complied with to the letter. The culture is shifting, and it’s going in a direction that is less understanding of the complications involved in running a business.

You might be thinking, ‘how could that be, Trenton regulations have been burdensome and hard to live with for years (just look at the mess around UST training)!’ While you’re not wrong there, the new Governor and all the people he has chosen to take over the various organs of state government, from Department of Environmental Protection to Department to Labor, are looking and working to make things tougher and provide less slack than ever before for violations. Their natural sympathies are almost never on the side of the business.

This is doubly true given the ever growing problems in our state budget. Every cent extra they can bring in from fines provides them more leeway to avoid making the hard choices they should have made over the last twenty years. The only advice that I have is to tell you is that you must comply with all regulations, no matter how burdensome they are. My staff and I will do our very best to assist you in order to avoid the harshness from the Trenton bureaucrats.

Here’s the perfect example of what is coming, this is a press release issued by the new Attorney General explicitly promising a big increase in Natural Resource Damages (NRD) lawsuits in the coming years, after virtually no such lawsuits were filed over the past eight years. One of these new suits is against a former Mobil station in Woodbridge. The tanks were taken out almost twenty years ago and apparently the land was not cleaned up properly. Now, the State has decided to come after the former owner, except he’s dead so they are suing his estate.

That's all for this week-
Sal Risalvato
Executive Director

TRAINING CLASSES!!
All classes held at NJGCA HQ -- 4900 Route 33 West, Wall Township, NJ 07753

Emissions Inspector Training Class - One Day Only!
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9th, 2018 -- 7 AM to 3 PM
Want one of your technicians to become a NJ Emissions Inspector? We can help! Our one-day class will provide all the information for becoming a NJ Emissions Inspector, and the State will administer the written test the very same day at our offices! We are offering the class: Thursday, August 9th from 7:00am to 3:00pm.
Cost is $275 for members.
Click HERE for the August registration form, HERE for September and HERE for October.

FUTURE CLASSES WILL BE ADDED UPON REQUEST AND ACCORDING TO DEMAND. CONTACT DEBBIE at 732-256-9646 or DEBBIE@NJGCA.ORG TO LET HER KNOW YOU ARE INTERESTED IN TAKING A SPECIFIC CLASS. THIS WILL ALLOW US TO GAUGE YOUR NEEDS AND KEEP TRACK OF THOSE WISHING TO PARTICIPATE!!

CLASSIFIEDS! -- FOR SALE & HELP WANTED ADS

FOR SALE:

Business For Sale: Monmouth County gas station and repair shop in business since 2001 is for sale. Owner is relocating out of state and is interested in selling business and equipment. Owner is open to limited financing. Business has a strong 10 year lease. The building has two repair bays and the gas pumps are leased to a large independent tenant. Repair shop business currently employs a Manager and two full-time Technicians. For inquiries and more info, please call Mark at 908-670-7798.

FOR SALE:

Shell Gas Station with 6-Bay Repair Shop for Sale in Bergen County!

Business established in 1980. Fully equipped repair shop with 5 lifts including an alignment rack with a 2-year-old Hunter Hawkeye alignment machine. New Hunter tire machine & wheel balancer. AAA approved and very busy.

Towing business also available which includes 3 Freightliner/JerrDan flatbeds (2015, 2016 & 2017), a 2012 Dodge crew cab wrecker with a Jerrdan Quick Pick & dual cable winch & 2 service trucks (a 2012 GMC 2500 utility truck with a plow & a 2014 Ford transit battery/service vehicle).

Pumping over 1,000,000 gallons per year. 100x300 lot with plenty of parking. Excellent location!!! Call Jim @ 201-851-3084.

NEWS AROUND THE STATE: THE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

08/01/18
Murphy administration is shaking down polluters over toxic sites with 6 new lawsuits
Authorities in New Jersey are ramping up efforts to claw back money for environmental cleanups from polluters, filing six lawsuits over contaminated sites around the state. Officials in Gov. Phil Murphy's administration say they are bringing the fight back to polluters after eight years under Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who seldom went to court over contamination.

07/30/18
Oil Edges Lower on Surprise U.S. Crude Stockpile Build
Crude fell after an industry report showed an unexpected rise in U.S. crude stockpiles.
Futures in New York edged lower after the American Petroleum Institute was said to report U.S. crude inventories increased 5.59 million barrels last week. That compares to a 3 million barrel decline in stockpiles seen by analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The U.S. benchmark lost 7.3 percent in July, posting the biggest monthly loss since July 2016, as some of the largest producers, such as Saudi Arabia, are seen raising supply levels.

07/30/18
House Republicans suggest they want to make SALT deduction caps permanent
It’s been more than six months since the $1.5 trillion tax bill passed Congress, but the fight over the state and local tax deductions never really ended. The tax bill is set to expire in 2025, but now there’s a push from President Trump and other congressional Republicans to make it permanent. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said the best way to continue to strengthen America’s economy is with America’s middle class families and our small businesses.

07/30/18
Starbucks, others must pay California workers for tasks done after clocking out: court
California’s top state court said on Thursday that employers must pay their workers for small amounts of time they spend on work tasks after clocking out, in a ruling that will likely lead to the revival of a lawsuit against Starbucks Corp. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business group, warned the court in a brief backing Starbucks that such a ruling would encourage workers to file lawsuits seeking pay for “trifling absurdities.”

07/26/18
ICE targets 75 N.J. businesses suspected of hiring unauthorized immigrants or other violations
Immigration officials have notified 75 New Jersey businesses that their hiring records will be audited to determine if they are employing unauthorized immigrants or violating other labor laws, federal officials said. ICE did not identify the New Jersey businesses that were given notices or why they were targeted.

07/31/18
Chart of the day: EVs and home ownership
Homeowners are three times more likely than renters to own an electric vehicle, a gap that remains even after controlling for income, new research by University of California-Berkeley economist Lucas Davis shows. Why it matters: Renting is among the barriers to moving EVs — a growing but still niche market — into the mainstream, which policymakers see as a way to cut carbon emissions.

07/31/18
The time has come to get N.J.'s most insane laws off the books. Let's start with these.
An awful lot has changed since December 18, 1787, when New Jersey first became a state, but law doesn't always keep up. With summer upon us, we decided to take a quick look at the statutes still on the books that are ripe for removal. Here follow some doozies that left us scratching our heads --and hoping we don't get arrested for "misbranding our firkins" and a whole lot of other ancient Jersey laws that are still legally enforceable but shouldn't be.

MEMBER BENEFIT PARTNER MESSAGE BOARD:

TMP Energy Solutions

Another Way to Save on Your Energy Bills

We have had a number of NJGCA members successfully reduce their rate per kWh signing up through our energy saving program. We know it's difficult to collect 12 months worth of previous electric bills to get an "accurate" analysis when comparing a variable rate to a fixed rate, but we now have another option available.

This new solution is a power purchase option; the other program is still in full force and has saved members thousands of dollars. If you sign up for the power purchase option, you will be grouped with other NJGCA members until the minimum kW demand is acquired. By pooling the member's usage together, you will be able to take advantage, as large energy users do, and receive a lower kWh rate.

Each member will receive their own contract. Each member is responsible to sign and return the agreement the day it is received in order to secure the price for their group. Please do your due diligence, so when you receive the proposal and the agreement you will be able to make an intelligent decision.

If by chance, you still want us to assess you bills, to give you a price to compare, we will require 12 months of your most recent utility bills. There are no bills required, but we would still like to have one bill per meter on file to check account #'s, meter #'s service addresses and other pertinent information incase there is a problem.

The term of the agreement is for 12 months. During this term period, you will have price protection against any energy price increases along with a low fixed kWh rate.

If you are interested in becoming part of this power purchase option, please contact Greg Cannon at the NJGCA.

Remember when you sign up your energy through the NJGCA Energy Program, TMP makes a considerable donation to the NJGCA Scholarship Fund through their proceeds. This has no affect on your rate, and costs you nothing out of pocket.

We hope to help hundreds of NJGCA members reduce their utility costs by participating in this and our other cost reduction programs. Our purpose, in the endeavor, is to help NJGCA members lower their energy costs while supporting the NJGCA Scholarship Fund.

Contact GREG CANNON at 732-256-9646 or email Greg at greg@njgca.org. Mention that you are interested in saving money on your energy bills. NJGCA & TMP Energy Solutions will handle all the rest.

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: THE NJGCA PAC

DEFENDING OUR MEMBERS.
PROTECTING YOUR INTERESTS.
ANSWER THE CALL & CONTRIBUTE TODAY!!

Promoting our agenda in Trenton is of utmost importance to NJGCA and our members.

However, in order to truly affect the debate, we must ensure our friends in the Legislature are re-elected. It is for this reason that your Association has established the NJGCA PAC.

For too long, the weight of funding our Political Action Committee, the arm of the Association responsible for political donations, has rested upon a few. This is not only unfair to those few members who have shouldered this burden, but means we are not utilizing our full strength to affect the debate in Trenton.

To truly understand the importance of supporting our allies, consider our successes in Trenton:

We defeated BELOW COST SELLING
We made history in getting FIRST RIGHT OF REFUSAL signed into law!
We have built large support for RIGHT TO REPAIR and got it passed out of the Assembly
We defended your small business against the false accusations of Attorney General Anne Milgram
We gained wide support to move New Jersey to an all PIF Inspection System and close the CIF lanes
...and MUCH MORE!!

In each instance, we achieved these goals with the help of our friends in the Legislature!

If every member contributes just $100.00 we will be able to provide the help necessary to ensure victory for our allies.

PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO:
NJGCA PAC
4900 Route 33 West, Suite 100
Wall Township, NJ 07753
Please make your donation payable to NJGCA PAC

I understand that times are tough for all NJGCA members, but this is just as important as any battle we have fought in the past.

We have made great progress in Trenton. I hope that you will answer the call.

Energy Information Agency Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices

Each week, the Energy Information Administration publishes a list of average gasoline prices for the previous three weeks. NJGCA will begin including this list with the Weekly Road Warrior. Remember, these prices are reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.