Golden Gate Petroleum Fined $3 Million
Tax Hike Drops Cigarette Sales In Utah, Helps Wyoming
Black Elk Acquires Wyoming Refinery, Looks To Increase Capacity
Phoenix Voters Block New QuikTrip
Man Shot in Phoenix Valero Parking Lot

GOLDEN GATE PETROLEUM FINED $3 MILLION

MARTINEZ, CA. — Golden Gate Petroleum, a large petroleum jobber and retailer in Northern California and northern Nevada, has been ordered by the court to pay $3 million in fines and costs for violating a series of underground storage tank regulations at 34 of the company's sites.

According to a civil enforcement lawsuit, originally filed by a coalition of Northern California district attorneys in 2007, Golden Gate Petroleum was accused of "tampering" with UST sensors by improperly installing or repairing them, failing to adequately train employees in responding to hazard materials releases or spills, and failing to maintain various records required under state law. The suit asked for stiff penalties against the jobber because of the "hazardous" nature of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barry Goode ruled in favor of state lawyers, finding that Golden Gate Petroleum stored hazardous materials "in illegal underground storage tanks." Judge Goode ordered the company to pay $100,000 to Contra Costa County in fines by June 30, 2012; another $150,000 by June 30, 2013, and a final installment of $160,000 by June 30, 2014. Local regulators said the amount of the fine was "based on the financial inability" of Golden Gate Petroleum to pay a greater amount.

The remainder of the judgement's costs will be spent to bring the company's stations into compliance with UST regulations.

Judge Goode also ordered Golden Gate to "employ and maintain a corporate officer or employee knowledgeable in the California environmental laws as an Environmental Coordinator." The environmental coordinator's responsibility "shall be to manage Defendants' compliance with the injunctive terms in this judgment."

TAX HIKE DROPS CIGARETTE SALES IN UTAH, HELPS WYOMING

SALT LAKE CITY, UT. — One year after a $1 increase in Utah's excise tax, sales of tobacco products have dropped 15 percent.

Approximately 10 million fewer packs of cigarettes have been sold in Utah since cigarette tax rose from 69.5 cents per pack to $1.70 on July 1, 2010. However, revenue from the tobacco tax has almost doubled to $119 million during the past year, according to the Utah Tax Commission.

"Depending on how you want to look at the data, clearly there's been a move there downwards," said David Sutton, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA. "We suspect what it is, as it is in most states, is cross-border sales."

As evidence of this trend, local reports found that tobacco sales have increased by 20 percent in Evanston, WY., a town located just north of the Utah border. That translates into an increase in cigarette sales of 400,000 packs of cigarettes sold in a town of approximately 12,000 residents.

Jim Gibbs, owner of The Tobacco Store in South Salt Lake, UT., told local reporters that he has had to lay off one part-time employee and could have to cut his own salary in half because of the tax increase and the corresponding decrease in sales. "I might be on a slow decline of going out of business," Gibbs said. "I'm just barely hanging on."

BLACK ELK ACQUIRES WYOMING REFINERY, LOOKS TO INCREASE CAPACITY

NEWCASTLE, WY. — Black Elk Refining LLC has acquired Hermes Consolidated's 12,500 barrels-per-day refinery located here. The price for the facility was not disclosed.

The plant will continue to operate under the name of Wyoming Refining Company and Black Elk says it plans to increase capacity from the facility by 2,000 to 4,000 b/d. The refinery produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, propane, and butane for the area.

The Newcastle plant is Black Elk's first refinery purchase, but the company plans to expand their operations in the territory.

"We've been doing and building and starting refineries and gas plants for a few years, but this is our first refinery," said James Runyan, the new president and chief technical officer of Wyoming Refining Co. "We have a strategic vision of acquiring some more in the Rocky Mountain region and we are moving toward that goal."

Runyan also told local reporters that "The refinery at this point, as a whole, is in good a shape, if not better as others in Wyoming."

Black Elk Refining is a new joint venture between EOR Energy Services, an oil technology engineering firm, and investment company Chambers Energy Capital, both based in Houston, TX.

PHOENIX VOTERS BLOCK NEW QUIKTRIP

PHOENIX, AZ. — A local referendum has blocked the construction of a planned QuikTrip service station and convenience store here.

The City Council had approved the planned QuikTrip, which was to be located at the corner of 44th Street and Palm Lane in east Phoenix, last year. However, residents of the area launched a referendum to overturn the City Council's decision to rezone the land and allow the station and c-store, collecting more than 10,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

The vote on the issue was held in August and local residents cast their ballots to bar the residential land from being rezoned for commercial use as well as stopping the property owner from selling his land to QuikTrip.

Jason Rose, a spokesman for the Citizens Against Neighborhood Encroachment political-action committee, which led the campaign, said the measure was "a grass-roots fight by neighbors" against Oklahoma-based QuikTrip.

Local reports noted that campaign finance disclosures showed that their campaign was primarily bankrolled by the Takhar family of Paradise Valley, which owns a Chevron at McDowell Road and 44th Street. It was disclosed that Gurvinder and Rajinder Takhar had spent more than $142,000 on the campaign. The family said that they did not support the campaign to eliminate their competition but, instead, did it to "keep QuikTrip honest" and force the company to buy property that was already zoned as commercial.

QuikTrip's campaign spokesman Ryan O'Daniel said he was disappointed with the results of the vote, noting, "I'm concerned that this is going to set a precedent for all zoning decisions for businesses." He also noted that a referendum of this nature was unprecedented in company history.

QuikTrip had reportedly spent approximately $163,000 on the campaign to defeat the measure.

Gordon Stoa, a resident in the area of the potential station, told local reporters, "Fortunately, the people locally got this issue on the ballot. People in the city of Phoenix said, 'Hey, vote no.' "

MAN SHOT IN PHOENIX VALERO PARKING LOT

PHOENIX, AZ. — An argument that spilled out of a local apartment building ended up with a shooting in a Valero station here.

According to local reports, a 26-year-old man was shot and critically wounded at about 12:30 a.m. at a Valero station on the northeast corner of 32nd and Roosevelt streets, after two groups of people got into a dispute.

"We don't believe there was a robbery involved in the [convenience] store," said Sergeant Tommy Thompson with the Phoenix Police Department.

Police are still trying to determine what led to the shooting but detained several people in a nearby apartment complex who may have been involved in the dispute.

The incident closed the local streets for approximately 12 hours while the police conducted their investigation.

Originally published in the October 2011 issue of O&A Marketing News.
Copyright 2011 by KAL Publications Inc.