FBI Massive Catalytic Converter Bust Takes Them to New Jersey
NJGCA 2022 Turkey Drive
CARB Enhanced Vapor Recovery Upgrade & Deadline
Address Change
Please be sure to update your records to reflect our address change, especially if you are sending in your dues checks. We have been receiving some checks back at our old office. They are forwarded to the new location but it delays receipt by several weeks. To make sure items make it to us, please be sure to change our mailing address to the following in your records if you have not yet done so:
NJGCA
615 Hope Road,
Bldg. 2, 1st Floor
Eatontown, NJ 07724
Healthcare Webinar
Thank you to our members who were able to join us and World Insurance last week to learn more about a brand new health plan that NJGCA is offering to members that has not been offered before. For those of you who were not able to join us, we will be hosting another session of the same webinar next Tuesday, November 9th at 12 PM. You can register HERE. Members who have already taken the time to investigate the program are finding significant savings in many cases. As you are all aware, healthcare is a huge expense for any business. Especially this time of year, it’s a good opportunity to at least explore your options. There will be a live Q&A at the end of the webinar, and the presentation itself only takes about 30 minutes. Only NJGCA members and their employees are allowed in this plan, and the plan can be tailored to even accommodate just one person.
Early Voting
Election day is this coming Tuesday. As a reminder, last year New Jersey began allowing in-person early voting on a voting machine. It’s a great option if you’re not sure you’ll definitely have time to make it to the polls on Tuesday (they are open 6am-8pm). You use the same voting machines you would use on election day itself, and you can basically walk in and out in a few minutes. Every county has multiple locations where you can vote, and you can just walk in any time between the hours of 10AM and 8PM. You can go to any of the locations within the county you are registered to vote in. You can look up voting locations within your county HERE.
If you are still on the fence about who the vote for, be sure to check out our latest Voter Guide issue of the On the Road magazine. We do a deep dive on the candidates and the issues at stake with this election. Hopefully you all should have received your print copy in the mail, but you can also view online on our website HERE. If you have not received a print copy, please contact Michelle at michelle@njgca.org, as we may not have the best mailing address.
Catalytic Converters
If you follow the news and read our weekly Road Warrior newsletters, you know that catalytic converter thefts are on the rise in New Jersey and nationally. This week, the FBI announced in a press release that nationwide arrests were made in connection with a multimillion-dollar scheme involving stolen catalytic converters. New Jersey criminals were involved in the bust. Defendants from California and Oklahoma allegedly bought stolen catalytic converters from street thieves and then sent them across the country to defendants in New Jersey. The New Jersey criminals paid millions of dollars for each shipment of catalytic converters, knowing they were stolen parts. The FBI estimates that by extracting the precious metals from the catalytic converter components and selling them to a refinery, the thieves netted more than $545 million. These thefts have dramatically increased over the years, with the FBI disclosing that in 2018, 1,298 claims were filed reporting catalytic converter thefts. In 2019, it was 3,389, and in 2020, catalytic converter theft claims jumped to 14,433 reports, a 325 percent increase in a single year. You can read the press release and see the amount of stolen catalytic converters seized in the bust HERE.
For those of you with repair shops, you must continue to keep your eye out for these thefts, especially if you have cars that are left in your parking lot overnight. We have supported legislation that will require scrap dealers to document more information on catalytic converters, making it harder for thieves to sell them. You can read the details of the bill HERE. Additionally, you may want to consider advertising to your customers that you can give them some simple protections like engraving their converter with their VIN and/or adding a protective cage around the converter, as many shops are now offering.
Turkey Drive 2022
NJGCA is hosting another virtual turkey drive amid news that surging turkey prices may affect New Jersey families' holiday season again this year. This year we will again be making a donation to the Fulfill NJ food bank, which is based near our office. We plan to deliver the check to Fulfill on November 14th. Last year, thanks to the generosity of our members we were able to donate $5,000 to the food bank, which provided 15,000 meals to families in need. We always hope to be able to exceed the previous year’s goal in the spirit of giving during the holiday season. If you are able, please consider donating.
We have been in contact with NJDEP officials concerning the forthcoming Enhanced Vapor Recovery ("EVR") upgrade mandate. This upgrade affects all locations with tanks installed prior to December 23, 2017. Any tanks installed on/after December 23, 2017 are unaffected; and should have had these enhancements made at the time of installation. Those affected facilities must upgrade to new, full EVR requirements by December 23, 2024.
The upgraded system is a California Air Resources Board (CARB) Certified Phase 1 system, and includes enhanced rotatable fill adaptors, dust caps, spill buckets, hoses, and other requirements. Stations that do not upgrade their facility by December 23, 2024 may face fines or penalties for non-compliance.
In following the same mindset that forewarned the implementation of the Stage II Vacuum Assist Vapor Recovery decommissioning (which ended on December 23, 2020), NJGCA highly recommends that all affected stations comply with the upcoming mandates ahead of the deadline. Those stations with tanks installed prior to December 23, 2017 should contact their compliance vendor to inquire about the updates and schedule their completion before the deadline. With both the end of Stage II and the credit card EMV upgrades, we saw a lot of people wait until the final few weeks before the deadline and they suffered for it with long waits and higher costs.
If you have any questions, contact Nick at nick@njgca.org for more information.
All classes held at NJGCA HQ -- 615 Hope Road, Building 2, 1st Floor, Eatontown, NJ 07724
ASE Training Course - Reach Out Today!
Are you (or an employee) getting ready to take your A6, A8, or L1 in preparation to recertifying your Emission Repair Technician (ERT) credentials through the State's Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP)?
We can help --- but we need to hear from you, first! NJGCA wants to hear from students interested in our ASE-prep training program, so we can gauge demand and schedule our next session series.
As you know, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has always maintained a "dual-track" system to allow technicians to earn their Emission Repair Technician (ERT) credentials through New Jersey's Emission Technician Education Program (ETEP). In doing so, technicians were allowed to certify as ERTs through either an ASE-test track or an ETEP-educational class track. Starting on January 1, 2020, NJDEP amended the ETEP criteria, and the ETEP-educational class track was abolished.
Today, only the ASE-test track remains, and all ERTs must certify or re-certify their credentials though ASE to remain in the Program.
NJGCA has recently offered an ASE-prep class to help you get ready for the A6, A8, and L1. In doing so, students were welcome to participate in a ten-session preparatory class that covered material for all three ASE exams. We also had a handful of students who joined us only for the A8 or L1 sections.
Once completed, students took their ASE exams with a local ASE-approved test proctor (NJGCA can train you to prepare for the ASE exams, but are not permitted to offer the actual exam - students must make these arrangements individually themselves).
Building on that success, we are now seeking student participation in our next training series session. To make arrangements and organize a session, we need to hear from you!
President Biden threatened on Monday to seek a new windfall profits tax on major oil and gas companies unless they ramp up production to curb the price of gasoline at the pump, an escalation of his battle with the energy industry just a week before the midterm elections. The president lashed out against the giant firms as several of them reported the latest surge in profits, which he called an “outrageous” bonanza stemming from Russia’s war on Ukraine. He warned them to use the money to expand oil supplies or return it to consumers in the form of price reductions. “If they don’t, they’re going to pay a higher tax on their excess profits and face other restrictions,” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House. “My team will work with Congress to look at these options that are available to us and others. It’s time for these companies to stop war profiteering, meet their responsibilities to this country, give the American people a break and still do very well.”
10/25/22
New Study — NJ Is The 6th Best State to Own an Electric Vehicle In November, the country saw the passage of a revolutionary infrastructure law that put a $7.5 billion investment into electric vehicle chargers. This law will support a national network of chargers all over the country. Boy, they really want you to switch over to electric! With the push for electric cars in this country, it’s no surprise that New Jersey would be the first on the bandwagon. I have covered extensively my opinions about why this push is premature and even counterproductive, but here we are — with more electric vehicles on the road than just about any other state. But, at least, the state is making it easier for those who want to own one.
They’re electric vehicle charging stations, capable of reviving an EV and its battery in about half an hour. It is no exaggeration to say they could be the most disruptive thing ever to confront that century-old fixture of the American roadside: the gas station. As more Americans drive their shiny new electric vehicles onto the highway and wonder where to go when the battery nears empty, charging stations are the agents of a revolutionary fill-up — not of gallons but kilowatts, not five-minute “stops” but half-hour “experiences” that could completely transform the tenor of the road trip. These pumps and plugs facing each other across the asphalt are also totems of an unseen battle. Two titans of the energy sector — electric companies and gas stations — have peacefully coexisted for a century but now find themselves vying for the right to serve electric vehicle owners. In just the last nine months, automakers have sold over 576,000 EVs, a 70-percent jump over the same period last year, according to auto-research firm Kelley Blue Book. A burst of investment in both vehicles and chargers from automakers and the feds suggest that’s just the beginning. Ford and General Motors, America’s two biggest automakers, and the Biden administration have coalesced around a goal of electrifying half of new cars by 2030.
It was hailed as a landmark decision for the environment: The California Air Resources Board voted in August to require that all new automobiles and light trucks sold in the state be zero emission by 2035. The move, aimed at tackling climate change, has been cheered by many. Just not mom-and-pop gas station owners. In interviews with The Times, independent gas station owners said the state mandate will expedite the demise of their businesses. And they make up a significant part of the state’s fueling infrastructure: A little more than 5,000 such stations are scattered across California, according to National Assn. of Convenience Stores data. “Most of the independents will be put out of business — completely out of business,” said Charles Khalil, who owns two gas stations in the L.A. area and is bracing for a shakeout ahead of 2035. “We are all going to suffer through it.” He and other owners predict many mom-and-pop operators will, in the years ahead, sell their properties to real estate developers or large gas station chains that can afford to upgrade the sites with electric vehicle chargers. Space limitations and the high cost of installing chargers — a high-capacity version can cost $150,000, including all associated expenditures — make it infeasible for some owners to update their properties for an electric future.
New Jersey is seeing some of the biggest increases in the cost of gasoline in the nation. AAA puts the average for a gallon of regular in the Garden State at $3.85. That is up 18-cents in a week and a 41-cent rise in the last month. Prices had been steadily declining for three months in New Jersey since the cost of gasoline peaked at $5.05 a gallon in June. They began rising four weeks ago even as demand for gasoline and oil prices dropped. Analysts say tight supply is to blame.
An Essex County woman in a rush to fill her vehicle’s tires with air at a Bayonne gas station threatened another customer with a knife after a dispute over cutting in line, Bayonne police said. . . Police responded to the Quick Chek on a report of a dispute in which one person threatened the other with a knife, Amato said. The people involved had already left the gas station, but police located Beasley at a traffic light on Goldsborough Drive. During the ensuing investigation the victim said he got into an argument with Beasley when she attempted to cut in the line of vehicles waiting for the tire inflation pump at the gas station.
A major U.S. diesel fuel supplier warned of an oil "shortage" on the East Coast on Monday and suggested that it could cause prices on a variety of consumer goods to rise in the near term. But the tight supply of diesel fuel is no cause for panic, and the U.S. is not going to run out of it, according to energy market experts. On Tuesday, headlines indicating that the U.S. is down to a 25-day supply of diesel proliferated. Fox News host Tucker Carlson last week tweeted that "this country is about to run out of diesel fuel." The current limited supply, however, does not mean the U.S. will be out of diesel — used to fuel trucks and heating systems — in that time period. "Inventories of diesel and gasoline are down below five-year averages, and if the entire world were to stop, we would have 25 days worth of diesel. But the world doesn't stop. We're not counting on it stopping," Ed Hirs, a professor of energy economics at the University of Houston, told CBS MoneyWatch. He likened the situation to a grocery store's supply of milk at any given time. "Your grocery store may have an inventory of three days of milk. That's because they only have three days' worth at any given point. But the cow keeps milking, the farmer keeps sending milk, the dairy keeps delivering," Hirs said.
7-Eleven will shutter a New Jersey store this week and sell 18 other locations across the state. The popular convenience store chain is closing its Lakehurst store (217 Route 70) on Thursday, Nov. 3. The company, which acquired Speedway last year, is also set to sell 18 of its Garden State spots amid a nationwide plan to downsize. 7-Eleven is planning sell 73 of its banner stores and Speedways in 22 states. NRC Realty & Capital Advisors LLC is coordinating the sales or subleases. The locations will be sold through a “buy one, some or all” process and without convenience store branding, according to NRC.
Let’s start with a basic assumption that we can all agree upon: Politicians and their political parties don’t want to be affiliated with high gas prices. And that’s fully on display in 2022 with record-high prices and a mid-term election. Gas prices are the ultimate pocketbook issue that everyone talks about. Songs are written about them. You don’t see that about eggs, bread or milk. Or property taxes, for that matter. Quite simply voters hate high—or rising—gas prices. That’s probably the main reason that the federal gas tax hasn’t budged since 1993 when it was increased to 18.4 cents per gallon. So given that every politician wants to take credit for keeping gas prices in check, or better, lowering them, and every one running against an incumbent wants to pin blame on the person in charge, it makes sense that politicians would do everything in their power to keep gas prices low. Especially presidents. So why are they so bad at it?
Each week, the Energy Information Administration publishes a list of average gasoline prices for the previous three weeks. NJGCA will begin including this list with the Weekly Road Warrior. Remember, these prices are reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.
Parts For Sale: Incon TS-1000 tank monitor works well just taken out of service. Printer is aprox 2 months old. Also, Incon 8, tank probes. System replaced because on an Exxon upgrade. Call John Twin Towers Exxon (201) 224-8444
