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from the executive director’s desk
here are many things going on in the help of Congress to strongly encourage OSHA to
propane industry right now. In case you permanently exempt the propane industry from
missed some of the emails this past month, this rule.
Tallow me to provide you with a few • LIHEAP Funding - The President’s budget
important updates: cut LIHEAP funding which is vital to some of our
• Business Licensing Bill - The Alabama customers. Both the House and Senate will be
Legislature passed SB 316 and Governor Ivey working on the budget in September and we
signed it. The commonsense legislation says need to continue to encourage their support for
businesses will no longer be required to purchase LIHEAP.
a delivery license if their deliveries do not exceed In addition, the top 15 propane companies
$10,000 annually in a taxing jurisdiction where the in Alabama who
business has no other physical presence. This new receive LIHEAP funds
law may help a few of our members. will be contacted by
• Crane Rule - The Occupational Safety and Jennifer Lee, LIHEAP
Health Administration has repeatedly delayed Program Manager for
the onerous rule that would require the operators Alabama. Alabama
of cranes for propane tank deliveries to undergo is required to submit
a third-party certifi cation every fi ve years. This certain data to the
cost of approx. $1,300-$3,000 per crane operator federal government
is unnecessary for our industry since we already on LIHEAP recipients. Lisa Hill
have crane training in place. We are seeking the This is a mandate
which must be complied with. Please be very
cooperative.
• PERC Assessment - The Propane Education
and Research Council has approved an increase
to the PERC Assessment. The current assessment
is .004. October 1, 2017, the assessment will go to
.005.
• Cylinder Requalifi cation Training Program
Coming Soon - Based on industry feedback,
PERC has created a stand-alone cylinder
requalifi cation training program which will be
available to the propane industry soon. This
program was created for secondary markets
such as hardware stores, campgrounds,
rental equipment companies, gas stations,
etc. It will include a manual, video and
PowerPoint presentation on the properties and
characteristics of propane, the different types of
DOT cylinders requiring periodic requalifi cation,
and in depth procedures for requalifying DOT
cylinders using the external visual inspection
method.■
8 Alabama Propane Gas Association | September/October 2017
