CIOMA Destruction Derby
SIGMA Spring Meeting
Alliance Petroleum Annual Meeting
Northern California Petroleum Industry Golf and Tennis
Want to see the photos that didn't make the issue? Check out the Cutting Room Floor.
Highlander
Acquires Valvoline's Car Care Products
Hawaii Raises
Tobacco Age to 21
California
Files Complaint Against Ami Adini &
Associates
Victory Blue
Opens DEF Plant in Las Vegas
Gevo to Provide
ATJ to Alaska Airlines
DALLAS, TX. — Ashland Inc., has sold off its Valvoline-branded car care products to Highlander Partners, L.P., based here. The purchase price for the sale was not disclosed.
Included in the deal, which closed in July, are all Valvoline-branded maintenance chemicals as well as the company's Car Brite, Eagle One, and Pyroil brands and product lines and its private label business. Also included are the Valvoline manufacturing and distribution facilities in Hernando, MS.
All of the Valvoline assets will be placed into a new division of Highlander Partners called Niteo.
The company reported that the 140 employees who worked in the Valvoline car-care product division, including approximately 120 based at the manufacturing and distribution facilities in Mississippi, will join Niteo.
Announcing the deal, Jeff Hull, managing partner of Highlander and chairman of Niteo, said, "Consumer products and specialty chemicals have been targeted sectors for some time. We believe these assets will allow us to participate in both categories and continue to expand and accelerate the growth that Valvoline's car-care products have enjoyed. More importantly, with the manufacturing assets based in Mississippi, we believe Niteo provides an outstanding platform to undertake acquisitions and deploy a buy and build strategy."
HONOLULU, HI. — Hawaii has passed legislation to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco from age 18 to age 21.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige signed the measure into law in June, making it illegal to sell tobacco to customers under age 21 as well as making it illegal for anyone under 21 to buy, possess or consume cigarettes, other tobacco products and electronic smoking devices.
The first offense will result in a $10 fine. Additional violations would lead to a $50 fine or mandatory community service.
The new law will take effect Jan. 1. Over the next several months, the state Department of Health will work to inform retailers of the new requirements as well as post signs to educate the public about the new law.
"Raising the minimum age as part of our comprehensive tobacco control efforts will help reduce tobacco use among our youth and increase the likelihood that our [children] will grow up tobacco-free," said Ige, in an official statement.
SACRAMENTO, CA. — The California Office of the Attorney General has filed a complaint against Ami Adini & Associates, Inc. and its principals, Ami Adini and Elie Balas.
The complaint, which was filed on behalf of the California State Water Resources Control Board, alleges Ami Adini & Associates submitted false information to the State Water Board's Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund in order to receive reimbursements.
The complaint also alleges Ami Adini & Associates was negligent in conducting environmental cleanups at gasoline station sites, specifically in its operation of systems that treat soil and groundwater.
Ami Adini & Associates, located in Los Angeles, provides investigation and cleanup services at petroleum contaminated gas stations. The company has worked at more than 70 sites since the UST fund's inception, and is currently overseeing work at more than 15 sites in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Humboldt, Sonoma, San Mateo and San Joaquin counties.
The complaint alleges that Ami Adini & Associates submitted false information to receive payment from the fund for work not performed and supplies not used.
In addition to the Office of the Attorney General's complaint, a whistleblower suit alleging fraud has been filed against Ami Adini & Associates.
"The State Water Board is committed to combatting fraud, waste and abuse against the Fund. This case involves not only Ami Adini & Associates submitting false information, but also its professional negligence in the operation of treatment systems resulting in waste and abuse of funds that are intended to be used for cleanups," said Cris Carrigan, director of the State Water Board's Office of Enforcement.
Carrigan added, "Our ability to take enforcement actions to deter fraud, waste and abuse are greatly enhanced under the recently-enacted Senate Bill 445."
Under this newly enacted law, the State Water Board now has the authority to bar claimants and consultants from participating in the UST fund and to impose penalties of up to $500,000 per violation. The law also allows the recovery of costs for investigation and prosecution, and it grants administrative authority to prosecute cases.
LAS VEGAS, NV. — Diesel exhaust fluid manufacturer Victory Blue has opened a new DEF manufacturing facility in Las Vegas, NV.
Located at 2532 Abels Lane, the company says "the Las Vegas location has the ability to manufacture 30 million gallons of DEF annually, offers 24/7 operations giving customers the flexibility to manage their transportation assets, and is rail-served to receive dry urea prill and liquid DEF."
Victory Blue will distribute its own branded DEF as well as Valvoline "and other private brands" to customers in Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, and southern California from the Las Vegas location.
Based in Keller, TX., Victory Blue has corporate-owned manufacturing plants in Stockton, CA., and Phoenix, AZ., in the West in addition to the new Las Vegas site. The company also operates two additional plants in Texas and one in Arkansas.
ENGLEWOOD, CO. — Gevo, Inc. has signed a deal to provide renewable jet fuel to Alaska Airlines.
Gevo will provide its alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) which will be used on a demonstration flight on Alaska Airlines. The flight is expected to occur "sometime in mid to late 2015" after Gevo receives ASTM International certification for the fuel.
Gevo has been working through the rigorous ASTM process for the fuel for the last six years.
Gevo said once the fuel is approved, it "can be seamlessly integrated into the existing distribution infrastructure and onto commercial aircraft."
"Developing a domestic, competitively priced, sustainable supply of biofuels is fundamental to the future of American aviation," said Joe Sprague, senior vice president of external relations at Alaska Airlines. "The cost of fossil-based jet fuel is one of the largest expenses for airlines."
Alaska Airlines was the first U.S. airline to fly commercial passenger flights using a biofuel manufactured from used cooking oil. The airline has set a goal to using "sustainable aviation biofuel" at at least one of its airports by 2020.
Originally published in the
August 2015 issue of O&A Marketing
News.
Copyright 2015 by KAL Publications Inc.
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