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NORMAN, OK — Danielson Fuel Services (“DFS”), a leading regional fuel supplier in Oklahoma, announced today that it has completed the sale of its retail and wholesale fuels distribution business to Boyett Petroleum (“Boyett”), based in Modesto, CA. Boyett is a premier independent fuel supplier and retailer in the Western U.S. The acquisition serves as a platform acquisition for continued growth and expansion in the Mid-continent region.

DFS was founded in the 1975 by Jerry Danielson and has grown to be a leading regional leader in refined fuel distribution within a four-state region under the leadership of second generation and current owner, Mike Lawson. The company sells branded fuel under the Phillips 66 and Valero banners and unbranded fuel to its retail customers. “Our core focus with this sale was to find a strategic buyer that would carry on the same high standards and values towards our customers and employees. It has been a privilege to serve and support our loyal customers and local communities and we’d like to thank our team of employees in representing our company with honor,” said Mike Lawson, President of DFS.

"We are very excited about acquiring Danielson Fuel Services as it further expands our existing operations and provides a growth platform for new, opportunistic geographies of our wholesale business. Mike and their employees have served their customers with dedication and enthusiasm. We are eager to remain on the same path of service with passion and commitment,” said Dale Boyett, President of Boyett Petroleum. Boyett went on to say, “Bringing the DFS employees to the Boyett team was very important to our leadership team.

Downstream Energy Partners LLC (“DEP”) provided exclusive merger and acquisition advisory services to Danielson Fuel Services. DEP is a leading investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services to middle market companies within the downstream energy sector and is comprised of professionals who have decades of experience as both owner/operators and strategic financial advisors to energy companies. “Boyett Petroleum is acquiring high quality wholesale fuel supply assets in a location strategic to their expanding footprint,” said Jeff Traub, Partner of DEP, adding, “Mike Lawson and the DFS Team have built an exceptional company and it’s been a pleasure representing them in this transaction.”

Since 1940, Boyett Petroleum has been a family owned and operated fuel wholesaler and retailer headquartered in Modesto, California. Today, Boyett Petroleum is a leading distributor of Phillips and Valero branded motor fuels while also offering several other brands, including its non-branded proprietary solution known as Kwik Serv, Kwik In, Kwik Out. Boyett Petroleum also operates 10 retail sites under its Cruisers, Cruise In, Cruise Out brand with 76 branded fuel and owns and operates the fuel equipment at approximately 50 sites. Through its innovate programs and services, Boyett Petroleum prides itself on being more than a fuel supplier as it seeks to help its customers diversify, save and thrive. More information can be found at www.boyett.net.

Mike Lawson Danielson Fuel Services

405-579-3835

mike@danielsonfuel.com

Dale Boyett Boyett Petroleum

209-577-6000

dboyett@boyett.net

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has launched a new online application portal that allows borrowers with PPP loans of $150,000 or less to apply for forgiveness directly through the SBA instead of through participating lenders. The new application portal is designed to streamline and simplify forgiveness for small businesses. According to the SBA, most businesses (6.5 million) waiting for forgiveness have loans under $150,000. The new forgiveness portal will begin accepting applications from borrowers on August 4, 2021.

In addition, the SBA has set up a fully staffed PPP call-in number to answer borrower questions and assist filling out their forgiveness applications. Borrowers with questions or needing assistance with their PPP forgiveness application should call (877) 552-2692, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. The forgiveness application portal can be accessed by clicking here. 

The IRS has updated frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the paid sick and family leave tax credits available under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP). The paid sick and family leave tax credits reimburse eligible employers for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave for reasons related to COVID-19. The revised FAQs make clear this includes leave taken by employees to care for certain individuals to obtain immunization relating to COVID-19 or to recover from immunization relating to COVID-19. The tax credits under the Tax Relief Act, cover leave taken beginning April 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021. The ARP amends and extends these credits to leave taken beginning April 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2021. The FAQs include information on:

Under the ARP, eligible employers, including businesses and tax-exempt organizations with fewer than 500 employees, may claim the sick and family leave tax credits for qualified leave wages along certain other wage-related expenses (such as health plan expenses and certain collectively bargained benefits).

EMA continues to hear from energy marketers who have received hefty fines for failure to display IRS nontaxable use warning labels on dispensers. The IRS requires all dyed diesel and dyed kerosene dispensers to have a specific label indicating that the fuel is for nontaxable use only. Dispensers supplying undyed, untaxed kerosene sold from a blocked pump must also display an IRS nontaxable use warning label. The labeling requirement has been in place for diesel dyed diesel dispensers since 1993 and for dyed and clear kerosene dispensers since 1998. IRS field agents continue to enforce the dispenser label requirement in all regions of the country. Under IRS regulations marketers who fail to post the required labels are presumed to know the fuel will not be used for a nontaxable use and responsible for paying the 24.3 cpg federal excise tax on the fuel (the back-up tax). In addition, the IRS will assess a penalty of $10 per gallon for every gallon of nontaxable fuel in the storage tank connected to the dispenser at the time of the violation.

The following IRS labels must be posted on any retail dispenser or other delivery facility (skid tank, consumer dispensers at bulk plants or card locks) where dyed diesel fuel and/or dyed kerosene are dispensed for use by a purchaser/consumer:

or

“DYED KEROSENE, NONTAXABLE USE ONLY, PENALTY FOR TAXABLE USE”.

In addition, the following label must be posted on all blocked pumps that sell clear, untaxed kerosene:

The labels must be affixed to the dispenser in a conspicuous place within easy sight of the person dispensing the fuel either on the face of the dispenser (on both sides) or on the side of the dispenser just above the nozzle housing. The IRS issues violations for any IRS required label that is missing, faded, ripped or obscured in any from the consumers view. Marketers should frequently inspect dyed diesel fuel, dyed kerosene and clear untaxed kerosene dispensers to ensure the IRS label is properly placed and legible. Labels can be ordered online from most petroleum and c-store supply vendors.

EMA Staff Contact: Mark S. Morgan, Regulatory Counsel mmorgan@emamerica.org.

At the end of July, EMA joined several small business associations in a letter opposing a Treasury Department proposal which would require financial institutions to report to the IRS on the deposits and withdrawals of all business and personal accounts, as well as transfers between accounts of the same owner. EMA objected to the proposal due to the broad, untargeted nature of the Treasury proposal which is likely to create taxpayer complexity and confusion. Taxpayers will likely have to receive new or modified 1099s for every account they hold containing funds flow information that may not be relevant to their tax liability.

Simply put, the letter urged Congress to reject the Treasury proposal and explore less intrusive means of reducing the tax gap. 

Last Week, President Biden released a comprehensive multipronged plan to significantly tighten light truck and car fuel efficiency and begin a dramatic shift to electric vehicles over the next decade. Current CAFE standards are 46.1 mpg for passenger cars and 32.6 mpg for light duty trucks. Those standards are set to gradually increase to 55.3 mpg and 39.3 mpg, respectively, by 2025. The new standards would be 10 percent more stringent than the Trump rules for model year 2023, followed by 5 percent increases in each model year through 2026, a 25 percent increase over the four years. The new efficiency standards will result in a 52-mpg requirement for light trucks and cars by 2026. By comparison, the Trump era CAFE standards would have required a 29-mpg efficiency requirement by 2026.

The second prong of the Biden auto emissions reduction plan would require 50 percent of all new passenger cars sold in 2030 be powered by batteries and fuels cells or electric plug-in vehicles. However, that goal is widely seen as overly optimistic given that EVs sales represented only 2 percent of all passenger cars sales in 2020. While the automakers support the Biden plan, they are proposing a less ambitious goal of 40 to 50 percent of their annual vehicle sales be battery electric, fuel cell and plug in gasoline hybrid vehicles. However, automakers characterized the Biden plan a dramatic shift from the current U.S. auto market and can only happen with policies that include incentives for electric vehicle purchases, adequate government funding for charging stations and money to expand electric vehicle manufacturing and the parts supply chain. In the infrastructure bill awaiting passage in the Senate, there is $7.5 billion allocated for grants to build charging stations, about half of what Biden originally proposed. He wanted $15 billion for 500,000 stations, plus money for tax credits and rebates to entice people into buying electric vehicles. 

Last week, EMA joined NACS and seven other associations in a letter to CDC and OSHA regarding the revised mask use guidance, asking to protect employees from being required to be enforcers of state and local policies mandating wearing masks in public areas.

The letter urged CDC and OSHA to lead on this worker safety issue by publicly stating again that in jurisdictions that decide to require masks, the burden of enforcement should not be placed on businesses and their employees. CDC did this last year at EMA’s request but did not make any noticeable public statements. This letter calls on making certain that retail employees are not responsible for mandating the use of masks.

Because of the rapidly growing rates of transmission of the delta variant, the CDC recently recommended that vaccinated people start wearing masks indoors and in public places due to the Delta variant of COVID-19 spreading among vaccinated people.

The letter points out that “During the past year and a half, some local ordinances put the onus of mask enforcement on retail businesses. These requirements put employees in perilous situations as mask-wearing became a heated and politicized issue. Many of these confrontations became physical, and tragically, in some cases deadly. In June, a grocery cashier in Georgia was fatally shot after a confrontation with a customer involving a mask. In May 2020, a security guard at a dollar store in Michigan was killed after denying entry to a woman not wearing a mask. According to Forbes, “A review of news articles and law enforcement reports shows at least seven others have been killed following disputes over masks, predominantly inside different stores.”

Preserving the safety and well-being of retail employees is critical. Store employees are not prepared to enforce health restrictions and requiring them to do so presents the potential for confrontations fueled by anger that can turn violent quickly. That is not worth the risk.

EMA has been working with state association executives, the Department of Immigration, DOT and DOE on solutions to the driver shortage. In particular, the need for more EB3 Visas for foreign workers to deliver fuel in the U.S. as the shortage of drivers stretches across all industries and has been a problem for years. The pandemic, which led to early retirements and a shortage of driving schools, has made the problem far worse. EMA has been working extensively with DOE on a 100-page driver shortage report that is now in draft form, and EMA raised the possibility of expanding the number of Visas as one of many medium to long-term solutions to the driver shortage. EMA also provided information to DHS, DOT and the Immigration Department on how increasing the number of Visas would help with the shortage that is felt throughout the country, but particularly in disaster areas such as the west coast that is experiencing delays in access to fuel to fly the planes that deliver fire suppression and water.

To read an article about the driver shortage and companies who have brought in drivers from countries like South Africa and who now face barriers to bringing in additional drivers, click here.

After receiving feedback from stakeholders who participated in the virtual Industry Roundtable Meeting, the Petroleum Storage Tank Division staff will have an informal discussion with industry on Thursday, August 26, 2021, at 10:00 AM on draft proposed rule changes.

The meeting will be held at the Jim Thorpe Office Building, 2101 North Lincoln Boulevard, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 73105, in Commission Courtroom 301, to accommodate social distancing needs for attendees. The meeting will be livestreamed, and remote participation will be available via Zoom.

All Industries Risk Management Academy

November 8-10, 2021 | Owatonna, Minnesota

You are invited to attend an exclusive, complimentary session hosted by Federated Mutual Insurance Company. Click this video to help learn more about this session, which is focused on:

Register Here for this session. If you have questions regarding the event or the registration process, please feel free to contact Royetta Spurgeon at Federated at 507.455.5604 or email DRM@fedins.com.