SUPPORT GROWING FOR DIESEL GALLON EQUIVALENT STANDARD

On Thursday, eight trade associations sent a joint letter to Commerce Secretary Pritzker asking her to support the diesel gallon equivalent (DGE) standard. As we have reported, the National Conferences of Weights and Measures is scheduled to consider the issue at several regional meetings in May and will vote on the measure at its Annual Meeting in July. Thursday’s trade association letter was signed by the top leadership of AGA, ANGA, APGA, ATA, NACS, NGVAmerica, TRALA and SIGMA. The letter went to Secretary Pritzker because Commerce oversees the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), which serves as an advisor on NCWM standards. The letter shows that there is growing support for the DGE standard among our industry and also other trade allies. In a recent NGT News poll, 95 percent of respondents support adoption of the DGE proposal with 2 percent unsure and only 3 percent against. Governor’s Fallon of Oklahoma and Hinkenlooper of Colorado also recently signaled their support for the DGE standard by sending a letter to Secretary Pritzker. Governor Corbett of Pennsylvania has similarly weighed in on the issue by sending a letter to NCWM Chairman John Gaccione. All of this is helpful, but we still need members and supporters to contact their state weights and measures official to encourage them to support the DGE proposal. Specifically, we want them to support Items 237-2 and 337- 2; these items are included in Publication 16 and will be voted on this summer. Please let us know where things stand in your state. If you have written to your state officials, please share those letters with us. And if you know how your state regulator plans to vote, please share that with us too. Copies of the association letter and the Governor’s letters are available on our website under the Call to Action located at the top of the homepage.