October 24, 2014

Dear NJGCA Member:

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

Here is what you will find in this edition:

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE: GREETINGS & SAL-UTATIONS! 

TRAINING CLASSES OFFERED -- ENTIRE ETEP AND ERT RE-CERTS.
PROPOSALS TO INCREASE THE NJ GAS TAX
REMINDER: OCTOBER 28 BREAKFAST MEETING IN BORDENTOWN
SITE SURVEYS TO BEGIN IN CRIME RESEARCH PROJECT
2014 NATURAL GAS SUMMIT RECAP!

I want to start off this week with exciting information about the training and educational classes that NJGCA offers throughout the year.  Coming up in the next two months at NJGCA, we'll be offering the Entire Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP) for your technicians that want to be a Certified Emission Repair Technician. If you are an Emission Repair Facility and only have one technician that is certified, NOW is the time to send another so that you don’t ever let yourself get into a position that you don’t have one, and risk the possibility of losing your ERF license!
 
You should also know that in 2014, the NJ DEP added three new sections to the re-certification requirements for emission repair technician (ERT) licenses. The new sections of ETEP training will be required for Re-Cert in 2015.  NJGCA is currently having the program written and we will be submitting it for approval to the DEP later this year.  NJGCA will have the education programs for your re-cert requirements by Spring of 2015. Depending on demand, we would like to offer Day and Night courses for our members... We will keep you posted.
 
If you are an ERT, your license is good for five (5) years. ERT licenses are issued with expiration dates of June and December each year.  If your ERT license is expiring in December 2014, you can renew it now and you won’t need the new courses until December 2019.  However, for folks with ERT licenses expiring in June of 2015 (or after), YOU WILL NEED the additional NEW RE-CERT requirements before your license renews.
 
NJGCA has been, and will continue to be, a place that you can count on to bring you the programs that you need for your ERT licensing. 
 
Again – right now – if you don’t have an ERF license, and you want to be able to offer the “emission repair” after you “inspect” the vehicle, NOW is the time to get new folks enrolled in the class.  Their license will be good for five years, and will expire in December 2019.
 
Its simple to enroll ... to see the informational flyer, CLICK HERE
To Register for ENTIRE ETEP CLASS, CLICK HERE
To Register for ERT Re-Certification, CLICK HERE

Please complete the application and fax to Debbie Hill at 973-376-0766 or call Debbie at 973-376-0066.
 
Moving on, each week, there is more and more talk about how badly New Jersey's infrastructure needs to be repaired, how broke the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund is, and how New Jersey's gas tax must be raised to address these concerns. At this point, an increase to NJ's extremely low 14.5 cents/gallon gas tax is almost inevitable.  There are many different methods that the State could employ to raise this revenue, and right now our focus is maintaining a flat, cents-per-gallon fee, which is paid for when the load arrives.  
 
Other proposals have suggested applying New Jersey's 7% sales tax to gasoline, or making the gas tax itself a percentage of the price of gasoline. Both of those methods would require the dealer to manually calculate the tax and add it to the price on the pump. If NJ's 7% sales tax was applied to gas, this would require remittance by the retailer on the 20th of every month. NJGCA especially rejects any method that would require collection and remittance by the dealer, because that would require the money to be sequestered and managed until the 20th of the next month, which would be like going back in time to when we had to do that with the diesel tax. This led to many dealers getting into tax trouble and being delinquent with their payments.
 
We have been working diligently, educating legislators about the various proposals, and we have more meetings scheduled in the coming weeks. We are focusing on setting them straight on what proposals would harmful to our members if and when the gas tax revenue has to be increased.
 
Quick reminder: NJGCA Diner Tour meeting in Bordentown on Tuesday, October 28, 2014.  The meeting will be at Mastori's Diner on Route 130/206 in Bordentown, at 9:30 AM.  Our members in Mercer and Burlington Counties should be receiving emails and phone calls about this meeting, but it is open to ALL members in every county!  If you would like more information, or to RSVP, please call Jacy at the NJGCA office at 973-376-0066.  Thank you!

One more thing, for anyone who participated in the NJGCA Crime Research Survey and provided us with information about whether or not your station has been a victim of crime, we have a brief update from our partners at John Jay College.  The site surveys will begin this week and go through the end of November.  You can expect Bruce Vandervliet, Erin Russo, Courtney Klein or Jon Shane to stop by your location to collect data and take measurements. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jacy at 973-376-0066.
 
My final announcement is that I just returned from a very informative and exciting Natural Gas Conference in Boston! Several members attended and I strongly believe that these members, in addition to a number of other NJGCA members, have locations that are very strong candidates for success in the Natural Gas marketplace. As an organization, we haven't discussed this topic with much urgency or detail over the last year, mostly because the price of petroleum is lower than it was a year ago, and generally people are not interested or concerned with alternate fuels if there is not money to be saved.
 
However, not only in the price of gasoline and diesel coming down, but the price of natural gas is also lower.  In contrast to gasoline and diesel though, natural gas prices are less volatile, and tend to remain somewhat steady, whereas gasoline and diesel can be expected not just to rise, but to rise by a great value... It is not likely that we will continue seeing the low gasoline and diesel prices that we have now. I will try to send more updates on the subject and I am encouraging you all just to pay attention, because the future will be in natural gas, hydrogen, and electric vehicles. The following picture is me with two of our NJGCA members at the conference in Boston!

That's all for now.  Thanks for reading.  See you next week!

Regards,
Sal Risalvato
Executive Director

TRAINING CLASSES!!
-ALL CLASSES WILL BE HELD AT NJGCA HEADQUARTERS-
66 Morris Avenue - Springfield, NJ 07081 (Union County)

NJGCA is pleased to offer the NJ Emission Technician Education Program, starting Nov. 3rd. This is the ETEP Certification Course, the entire program, sections 1-7. This is everything you need to become a licensed Emission Repair Technician. Tests are given throughout the course and technicians that pass will receive a certificate stating that they successfully completed the New Jersey Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP). NJGCA has provided this program to the NJ Department of Transportation, UPS and NJGCA Members throughout New Jersey.  Our pass rate in this class is 100%.

NJGCA is also offering the Emission Repair Technician RE-CERTIFICATION class in December. For more information about the two classes, please see the flyer below.

FOR MORE INFO & TO REGISTER FOR THE 8 WEEK ENTIRE EMISSION TECHNICIAN EDUCATION PROGRAM (ETEP) CLASS -- SECTIONS 1 TO 7 -- OFFERED ON MONDAYS DURING NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, PLEASE CLICK  HERE.

FOR REGISTRATION INFO FOR THE EMISSION REPAIR TECHNICIAN RE-CERTIFICATION, PLEASE CLICK HERE

FUTURE CLASSES WILL BE ADDED UPON REQUEST AND ACCORDING TO DEMAND. CONTACT DEBBIE at 973-376-0066 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 

Do you have a business for sale?  Are you looking for a new location or opportunity?

• NJGCA regularly assists members looking to sell their business by getting the word out. Since everyone reading this message is involved in the small business gasoline retail, convenience store, and automotive repair trades, it is an ideal medium to connect with interested buyers and prospects!

NJGCA also helps members sell equipment by placing ads in the Road Warrior!

• If you'd like to list equipment for sale, or have an open position you'd like to make other industry professionals aware of, please contact NJGCA at 973-376-0066 and let us help you get the word out! 

NEWS AROUND THE STATE: THE NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

10/21/2014:
Two arrested shortly after South Brunswick gas station robbery
Two men arrested on Monday afternoon, shortly after police say they robbed a gas station attendant at knifepoint, are also believed to be responsible for other robberies. Around 4:15 PM two men approached the attendant at Valero Gas, 2736 Rt. 130 North, demanding cash. After the men fled in a green vehicle, the attendant called police. A short time later a North Brunswick police officer spotted the vehicle at another gas station on Rt. 130, a few miles north of the Valero. The men were arrested without incident. The men, whose names were not released, were being interviewed Monday evening and are suspected of other robberies during the past week in Middlesex and Somerset counties. The Valero robbed on Monday had also been robbed on Oct. 12.

10/21/2014:
CVS Declares War on Smoking: Will C-Stores benefit from crusade to encourage more drug stores to ditch tobacco?
CVS Health Corp. is offering a prescription-drug plan that charges patients more if they buy their medications at pharmacies that sell tobacco products, a plan that could benefit the company's own network of drugstores, reported The Wall Street Journal. It could also benefit convenience stores if more drug stores stop selling tobacco, sending smokers to other retailers that do sell cigarettes. The plan, offered by CVS's pharmacy benefits unit Caremark, features copayments that are up to $15 higher on prescriptions filled where tobacco is sold. That could give people covered by such plans an incentive to buy their medications at CVS, which stopped selling tobacco products last month, said the report. Rival drugstore chains like Walgreen Co. and Rite-Aid Corp. have resisted calls to stop selling tobacco themselves, saying it wouldn't have a significant impact on smoking rates.

10/20/2014:
New Commissioner Calls For Transportation Tax, Expanded Light Rail, New Tunnel
To new Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox, the challenge is clear, and so is the solution: After years of “taking a Band-Aid approach to everything,” New Jersey’s transportation system is in crisis. The only way out is to raise taxes to replenish the soon-to-be-empty Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) and build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson. “Crisis is opportunity. We are broke. We can let our infrastructure fall apart and become worse. Or we can put the ‘D’ and ‘R’ aside and pass a revenue enhancer, whatever that is,” Fox said in an impassioned plea to business and labor leaders to fight for a stable, long-term source of funding for highway, bridge and mass transit projects. “This is not an easy vote to pass,” Fox warned, referring to polls showing that most New Jerseyans oppose an increase in the gas tax. “There has to be a revenue enhancer. If it’s a gimmick, we’ve failed. We have to tell legislators we will be there with them. Anyone who thinks we’re going to get this done without a tax is just mouthing words.”

10/20/2014:
Will Biofuels Be Better For Plastics Than For Vehicle Fuel?
In 2007, when Congress passed the US Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), biofuels like ethanol were apparently poised to solve the country's energy problems. A lack of public interest, an inability to develop cellulosic sources, and the rise of viable plug-in electric cars have considerably dampened enthusiasm for ethanol since then. So producers of biofuels are now turning to a new market: plastics. According to a recent report by The New York Times, biofuel companies that originally planned to produce vehicle fuel may switch to making plastic bottles and other products instead. Increased ethanol production is required to meet government mandates, but low demand for the fuel from consumers is leading companies now in production to seek out other uses for their alcohol fuel. EISA includes a Renewable Fuels Standard that mandates a certain amount of ethanol be introduced into the national fuel supply. Producers are still awaiting a final decision from the EPA on whether to cut that amount by more than 40%.  Beyond the volumes mandated by Federal and state standards, the market for ethanol is fairly limited. Only about 2,400 US fueling stations sell E85 -- a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline that represents the most common use of the biofuel.

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 require12 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 973-376-0066 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.