As anticipated, at the Railroad Commissioner's Conference last week, the Commissioners approved the final Chapter 9 LP Gas Safety Rules.

Many notable and beneficial changes were made from the original May rule proposal. The new rules are set for publication in the July 15th Texas Register and will take effect on July 18, 2022.

The association has reviewed the new final rules and will provide members with a breakdown of all significant rule changes within the next 24 hours.

Operation Safe Driver Week, scheduled for July 10-16, 2022, is a safe-driving awareness and outreach initiative aimed at improving the driving behaviors of passenger vehicle drivers and commercial motor vehicle drivers through educational and traffic enforcement strategies and interactions with law enforcement.

Throughout Operation Safe Driver Week week, law enforcement personnel will be on the lookout for commercial motor vehicle drivers and passenger vehicle drivers engaging in risky driving. Identified unsafe drivers will be pulled over and issued a citation or warning.

Data shows traffic stops, and law enforcement interactions help reduce problematic driving behaviors. By making contact with drivers during Operation Safe Driver Week, law enforcement personnel aim to make our roadways safer by targeting high-risk driving behaviors.

NPGA CEO Steve Kaminiski pens a message to the industry announcing that the Biden Administration has finally dropped its bomb on the propane industry—directly targeting gas-powered residential furnaces, water heaters, and other products. Kaminiski Administration (via the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency) is engaged in six separate rulemakings—using appliance efficiency standards as a backdoor mechanism to try to ban gas across the entire country.

For example, the DOE proposes requiring that residential furnaces have 95% efficiency measured at the site. 95% efficiency can’t be met by currently installed, non-condensing gas furnaces. So, when those need replacing, a condensing furnace or heat pump must be purchased. A condensing furnace can reach the efficiency but requires costly venting reconfiguration, which will drive consumers to install heat pumps.

The National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) is fighting back feverishly. NPGA is bringing in sophisticated external experts—hired guns—to assist and use our war chest. NPGA is aligning with several trade associations, including those representing the natural gas industry. NPGA is using technical and regulatory mechanisms and is poised to file one or more lawsuits against the DOE if needed. In parallel, NPGA has also brought in experts to pro-actively seek a shift of viewing emissions from site to source within the government.

While there’s no need to panic, and NPGA has many arrows in its quiver, NPGA believes the industry should be aware of this fight that NPGA is being forced to wage on behalf of its membership.

In a recent article in LP Gas magazine, Attorney John McCoy, who represents propane nationally in cases, writes about legal issues regarding cylinder and tank placements.

Often times tank placement may not be a contributor to an incident, but plaintiffs' attorneys use it to paint the propane company in bad light alluding to a disregard for safety.

McCoy also highlights other cylinder and tank issues they've seen that marketers should be cognizant of that the defense may use if an incident would to occur that that installation.

Read the full article for more violations to be on the lookout for and to avoid.