Our state is facing a major crisis.
Come April 1st anywhere from 6000 to 8000 gas stations could be forced to close if they do not meet a new California Air Resources Board (CARB) mandate that requires small station owners to install new enhanced vapor recovery (EVR) nozzles to capture 98% of the vapor emissions instead of the current 95%.
Should this happen it will be devastating to California’s urban and minority communities.
That’s why myself and a Bipartisan group of Legislators are calling on CARB and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to extend the deadline for compliance by one year to April 1, 2010.
Anything shorter than that will result in:
- Closure of Service Stations Serving Inner City: Stations who cannot meet the deadline will be forced to shut down – creating a major a void in inner-city communities and resulting in dramatic prices increases at a time when our hardworking families can least afford new costs.
- Loss of Revenue for the State and increased unemployment: Service station closures will further hurt our struggling economy and aggravate an already dismal budget situation by putting more individuals out of work and reducing critically needed tax revenue – resulting in less money for the State’s general fund and ultimately lead to further decreases in badly needed community, health and educational programs.
- Increased blighted areas and increased pollution: Station closures will become community eyesores, set back our efforts to revitalize our inner city community’s and most ironically, likely result in increased pollution as individuals drive more to find an open gas station – undermining the original intent of the regulation.
- Hardship on Minority Owned Small Businesses: Major oil companies have divested most of their service stations to minority, disabled veterans, women and others individuals over the last several years — without an extension of the compliance deadline, these small business owners will be financially ruined and their dreams of a better life for their families vanquished.
The solution to avoid this crisis is simple — extend the deadline by one year.
PLEASE HELP STOP THIS PENDING CATASTROPHE BY CALLING OR EMAILING THE GOVERNOR TODAY – DEMAND THAT CARB ALLOW STATION OWNERS A ONE YEAR EXTENSION FOR EVR COMPLIANCE!
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
916-445-2841
http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email (fill in form)