2 nc propane gas association june 2011 the official publication of the nc propane gas association,...

2 NC Propane Gas Association June 2011

3June 2011 NC Propane Gas Association

The North Carolina Propane Gas News

John R. Jessup, Executive DirectorMichael S. Boggs, Director of Education and

Technical Services, EditorBrenda Cole, Office Manager

Pam Fox, Administrative AssistantJon Carr, Lobbyist, Legal Counsel

Ph. 919-787-8485 ● Fx. 919-781-7481

OfficersAmy Dean.......................................................PresidentDavid Parker.........................................President-ElectTim Rice................................................Vice PresidentKen Dye..........................................................SecretaryDavid Briles....................................................TreasurerDonnie Bullock....................Immediate Past President

District DirectorsDistrict 2. James Harris...............................SwannanoaDistrict 3. Greg Eanes..................................GreensboroDistrict 4. Jeff Ruffner...................................StatesvilleDistrict 5. Billy Foust........................................MebaneDistrict 6. Don Worsley, II.................................SanfordDistrict 7............................................... ..........................District 8. Jo Ann Jezard..........................Elizabeth CityDistrict 9. F. Ray Moore..............................Washington

Committee ChairsAdvisory Board.....................................Donnie BullockConvention................................................Greg NarronEducation/Safety.......................................Cyndi KiblerFinance..................................................George LipfordGovernmental Affairs...............................Daren ParkerMembership Services..........................Doug LawrenceNC Young Gassers...............................Christian BattlePromotion & Public Relations..............Christian RichPublication................................................Mike GroomTechnologies/Innovations.................Armistead MauckSuppliers.................................................Christian Rich

Notice

As the official publication of the NC Propane Gas Association, the NC Propane Gas News carries authentic notice pertaining to the activities of the Association. In other respects, statements of fact and opinion are made on the responsibility of the authors and contributing writers alone, and do not imply an opinion on the part of the Board of Directors, the Officers, or the Membership.

Upcoming Events

June 13-15, 2011 Propane Days, Washington, DC

June 19-21, 2011 NCPGA Board Meeting Courtyard Marriot Carolina Beach, NC

Sept. 17-21, 2011 NCPGA Convention Kingston Plantation Myrtle Beach, SC

ContentsBrenda Cole......................................................4John Jessup.......................................................5Richard Fredenburg..........................................6Michael S Boggs.............................................9Who has Access to your Personal Info?.......11NCPGA Convention Registration...................14NCPGA Legislative Picnic.............................21

AdvertisersApache Trucks.......................................................11, 23Apex Propane............................................................10Best & Langston..............................back outside coverBubba’s BBQ Ovens...................................................12Cates Propane Plant Construction...............................2Charlotte Tank Trucks..............................................20C H S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7CUI.....................................................................21Dealers LP Equipment..............................................18Gardner Marsh Gas Equipment...................................8Gas Equipment Co.....................................................22Mangum’s...........................................................23PETCO...................................................................13Plains Marketing.......................................................15Propane Trucks...........................................................16Rutherford Equipment................................................17Thompson Gas...........................................................19


Brenda Cole, Office and Member Services Manager

Greetings NCPGA Members,

Summer is fi nally here! This time of year makes me most nostalgic for childhood memo-ries – the excitement of anoth-er school year ending; walk-ing barefoot through the warm grass; cooking out in the back yard; and most importantly the family beach vacation.

Pack up the kids, slip into your fl ip-fl ops, and join your NCPGA family at Carolina Beach for our Summer Board Meeting! The Meetings and Convention Committee has pulled out all the stops on this one.

At the Courtyard by Marriott you’ll fi nd everything you need to relax and re-energize. Visit www.courtyardcarolinabeach.com to check out this newly renovated oceanfront property.

The fun starts Sunday eve-ning at Havana’s Restaurant lo-cated less than a mile from the hotel. I am confi dent Mother Nature will allow us to enjoy the seabreeze on the front porch or covered deck while ordering up great eats at Havana’s!

On Monday, June 20th, the PAC Golf Tournament starts at noon at the Beau Rivage Golf & Resort in Wilmington. I do hope you will consider support-ing the NCPGA PAC with the available sponsorship opportu-nities. At our May 11th Legis-lative Day, NCPGA was seen

and heard. It is more important than ever to raise money for the upcoming legislative session. Remember that corporate funds may be used for sponsorship opportunities. If you have not received the PAC Golf Regis-tration form, please go to the NCPGA website to download the form.

I would tell you non-golfers and young people about the activities available to you dur-ing the day on Monday, but it would fi ll the entire June is-sue. It’s all there: fi shing, surf-ing, scuba diving, unspoiled beaches and warm ocean wa-ters. The renovated Carolina Beach Boardwalk offers arcade games, shops and eateries. Go to www.capefearguide.com for a list of stores, restaurants and activities.

Our Summer Board Meet-ing has always been known as our “family event” and Monday evening’s activities certainly offer something for everyone. While Mom and Dad are enjoy-ing the reception and dinner, the youth will be close by enjoying pizza, chicken fi ngers, macaroni and cheese, and cookies. Don’t worry about trying to get to the Aquarium at Fort Fisher during this trip. We are bringing them to you! Following the youth’s dinner, the Aquarium will be on hand with some “Scaly Survi-vors.” Getting to see and touch reptiles? I may opt for this one myself!

We are honored to have

Tom Mullaney with American Management Corporation pres-ent “Safety Is Worth A Million Bucks” at our Tuesday morning seminar. Be sure to sign up for this one!

As you can see from all the photos in this issue, our mem-bers have been busy. Last week the Scholarship Committee dili-gently reviewed this year’s ap-plications. Thanks to your gen-erosity, we are presenting four $1000 scholarships and one $500 scholarship to some well-deserving young people. Not only will the Tuesday morning Board Meeting offer informa-tive updates, but will give you the opportunity to meet these fi ne scholarship recipients and families.

I look forward to seeing each of you and your family mem-bers at Carolina Beach. Drive safely!


John R. Jessup, Executive Director

Legislative Day

“Hey…where did you get that box lunch?”

After a 10 year hiatus, mem-bers of the NCPGA took to the State Capitol for Legislative Day on May 11th. We set up a lunch and product display on the grassy fi eld beside the legis-lative building. Every Senator, Representative, and legislative assistant received an invita-tion to join us on the lawn for a free lunch. We thanked them for their service and seized the opportunity to introduce our-selves, promote our industry and update them on legislation that affects the propane world.

One of the goals of our leg-islative day was to educate our public offi cialsabout the diverse applications for propane energy beyond the familiar gas grill BBQ. As a matter of fact, we didn’t even take a gas grill to the event. We took the NCPGA LP powered Roush Ford F250, a commercial Enviroguard LP mower, a tankless hotwater heater, an autogas dispensing station and a Fiskars weed trim-mer that runs on propane.

We set up all of our displays on the grassy fi eld and proceed-ed to feed people a Carolina BBQ lunch. We thought we

would be safe planning to feed about 300 people. We ended up feeding 420 in about 2-½ hours. We had a line 75 people deep most of the day. We even asked Kemp Johnson and Johnny Tay-lor to get more food to make sure everyone got the lunch we promised them.

This year the big legislative topic for NCPGA is tax equal-ization. Every legislator that we talked to agreed that a propane customer paying 4 ½ times more tax per therm than a natural gas customer is clearly not fair to

the consumer. We knew when we asked Senator David Rou-zer to carry our bill that fi nding the money to replace the lost revenue our plan would create issues. The long legislative ses-sion is turning out to be a bitter

battle ground over revenue and spending. We addressed these concerns by proposing a phase in of the tax equalization over a 4 to 5 year period. This plan eases the burden of the loss in revenue.

It was a great event and we plan to return every year with our matching shirts and some type of food offering so that we can continue to tell our story and remind our legislators and their staff that NC uses more propane than any state in the south and is only second to California in total gallons in the US. My fa-vorite comment all day came from an elderly state employee wearing a Marine Corp hat. As he was helping us load our gear into the propane truck at the end of the event he said, “Man…I’m sure glad to see propane is back.” I absolutely agree!


Richard Fredenburg, NCDA&CS

Fire Safety Analysis Updates and

Alternate Use of Emergency Shutoff

ValvesBy Richard Fredenburg, N.C.

Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Now that most bulk and in-dustrial plants have upgraded their container valves to the new requirements, it is time to look at the fi re safety analysis and your operating and mainte-nance procedures.

One of the required parts of a fi re safety analysis (FSA) is an evaluation of the total prod-uct control system. If your FSA was written by any method other than the FSA alternative, the evaluation of the product control system - the system of valves, piping, and controls that keeps the propane confi ned or controlled - must accurately refl ect the actual confi guration and operation. The FSA alter-native for site-specifi c informa-tion is described on our website at www.ncagr.gov/standard/LP/LPgasConcerns/alternative.htm. Please keep in mind that, if you replace one type of valve with another, you have to up-date some FSAs to account for it.

Similarly, the operating and maintenance procedures must

accurately refl ect your physi-cal system. The operating pro-cedure must state how the site is operated under normal and emergency conditions. It is what you use to show emer-gency responders how to stop a release when they get there in the middle of the night. It is essential that they know how to do it correctly. In addition, the maintenance procedure must state which valves and equip-ment need periodic testing and maintenance.

Take a few minutes and compare your FSA and proce-dures with what is in the plant. If they don’t match, bring the documentation up to date.

On another topic, we are fi nding instances of emergency shutoff valves being used as backfl ow check valves. The handle is removed and the ESV body is installed to prevent fl ow in one direction and allow it in the other. This unorthodox use comes from a logical idea about how they operate, but do-ing so is not within their offi cial design. Using them this way makes some sense, but they are not tested or approved for doing that, and therefore it is not rec-ommended.

There is a general under-standing that valves and other devices used in systems under the jurisdiction of the LP-Gas Code are to be designed, in-stalled and used as intended.

However, that is not explicitly stated. There is a requirement in section 5.7.4.5 (5) that “Back-fl ow check valves shall be of the spring-loaded or weight-loaded type with in-line or swing operation and shall close when the fl ow is either stopped or reversed.” I conferred with a couple of valve manufacturers about this and both expressed their concerns over this substi-tution. One said, “I don’t know if the small internal torsion spring would hold the valve closed with a minimum of 10 psi as is required by UL 125 for a back check valve.” An ESV installed in a horizontal line with the valve disk swinging up to open will probably function as a backfl ow check valve. If it is installed so the disk swings horizontally or down to open or in a vertical section of pipe, I have less confi dence.

cont. on page 18


Michael S Boggs, Safety and Training

Sometimes We Win

Most of you have been fol-lowing the arguments posed by NCPGA and others concern-ing the CO detector proposals for various sections of the NC Building Code. NCPGA, with its grassroots letter-writing campaign, was at the forefront of the argument for equal pro-tection for all NC citizens.

The proposal we were argu-ing against would have been placed section 313.1.1 of the NC Residential Code. The language would have been as follows (the underlined words were the actual additional language, the non-underlined words are pre-existing): “In new construction, dwelling units within which fu-el-fi red appliances are installed or have attached garages shall be provided with an approved carbon monoxide alarm in-stalled outside of each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedroom(s) as di-rected by the alarm manufactur-er.” You can see how the under-lined language clearly targets our appliances and would be a disincentive for a contractor to install propane appliances in new construction. One member, upon realizing the implications of such language, described it as “death by a thousand cuts.” I thought that was a very appro-priate description.

There is also language that

requires CO detectors to be put in pre-existing housing. That language was part of the original requirement and not part of the proposal that we were object-ing to. The addition or replace-ment of a fuel-fi red appliance is only one of many triggers that will require the installation of a CO detector. The language in this requirement is much more universal, and doesn’t give the impression that fuel-fi red appli-ances are the primary cause of CO. I suspect it will be this situ-ation, installing an appliance in a pre-existing building, that most of you will encounter this requirement for the fi rst time.

The proposals, as written, were largely the result of what I considered to be unfamiliarity with CO and how it’s produced. Most people involved in the code-writing process were lim-iting their thinking to gas appli-ances of 25-30 years ago; un-vented, with no ODS, or vented appliances with the vent either missing, damaged, or incorrect-ly installed. If those were still in common usage, I might be in-clined to agree with the writers of the proposals, i.e., that most CO-related deaths are due to permanently installed fuel-fi red appliances. But the facts show a different story.

Think about when you see newspaper articles concern-ing CO-related deaths. These typically appear in newspapers

after extended power outages. People bring in camping equip-ment, grills (either charcoal or gas), or various outdoor appli-ances to try to cook food or stay warm, and they’re found dead a few days later. The propos-als, as written, wouldn’t protect people in this instance if their home was heated with electric-ity. It wouldn’t have protected people from a malfunctioning fi replace, since a fi replace does not meet the defi nition of an ap-pliance.

NCPGA and others success-fully argued that the require-ment and the protection it of-fered be universal. Since there are numerous ways to introduce CO into a living space besides the heating system of the house, there didn’t seem to be a reason to limit the protection.

There have been numerous proposals to add the universal

continued on page 10


language to several other codes within the NC Building Code such as the Plumbing Code, Mechanical Code, and Fuel Gas Code. The proposed wording also included an exception that will affect us: “Work involving the exterior surfaces of dwell-ings, such as the replacement of roofing or siding, or the addition or replacement of windows or doors, or the addition of a porch or deck, or the installation of a fuel-fired appliance that cannot introduce carbon monoxide to the interior of the dwelling, are exempt from the requirements of this section.” So an appli-ance, such as a tankless water heater, installed outside the liv-ing space, would not trigger the requirement for a CO alarm in

pre-existing housing. The language does not ad-

dress who must install the CO detector. That will be a decision that each one of you will have to make. I’ve talked to several companies that have ended up on opposite sides of this deci-sion; some have decided to fur-nish the detector, others have simply notified their customers of the requirement. But which-ever you choose, be aware that your local inspector will not pass the installation without seeing the CO detector in place.

I realize that some of you have had bad experiences with CO detectors in the past, large-ly due to false positive alarms. There is now a standard, UL 2034, which mandates that the alarms not immediately sound at low levels of CO, until that

“Sometimes we win” cont. from page 9

level continues for anywhere from 30 days to 1 hour depend-ing on the ppm detected. This is specifically designed to avoid false positive reactions from low level concentrations of CO. The present language in the NC Residential Code requires CO detectors to meet this standard.

So, I’m back at the title of this article once again. We can mark this one in the win column because, thanks to our members letter-writing campaign, we defeated an onerous proposal to change language that would have blamed our products almost exclusively for the introduction of CO into the living space of houses. But don’t let your guard down because the next battle, whatever it may be, is just around the corner!


Who Has Access to Your Personal

Information?By Derek Carawan

Last month I spent some time talking about our personal information and the precautions that we should take to protect it at the level of contact. That is, with those service providers that we interact with to finance a house, our banking relation-ships, car purchases and invest-ments. I would like to carry this a step further and discuss an-other consideration, the credit freeze.

On April 3rd, I received an email from a company that I do business with. In the email, they said that they contract with a company called Epsilon

which sends email communica-tions to their customers on their behalf. Epsilon notified them on March 31st that their sys-tems had been “hacked”. But, they were assured that nothing other than email addresses had been acquired. Really? The next day, news broke that Citigroup Inc., Capital One Financial Corp, Walgreen Co and Best Buy Co. had similar breaches. Even if the only thing that was “stolen” were email addresses, we should be on alert. Why? Because if a hacker knows the company that you do business with and also knows the email address with which you com-municate back and forth with that company, they can send some very cleverly designed emails. These emails will look just like the ones that you get

from the company. Thinking through this for just a moment, it is easy to see how we could respond to one of these. Each time we respond, we provide just a bit more information that the bad guys can use to harm us. Some of these may have a link that you may click. Finally, the “phishing” scam may have gathered enough information on you to cause some major prob-lems.

What can we do? While some of this is beyond our con-trol, there are precautions that we can take.

Most vendors will never ask you to confirm your password

Whenever you establish a business relationship with a company, they usually send you

continued on page 17


NCPGA Visits Member Events

Lonnie Pollard with Dealers LP Equipment prepares his specialty.

Drivers await their turns at EnergyUnited’s truck rodeo.

Tim Rice talks with Hew Fulton at his open house. Gardner Marsh Gas Equipment feeds a crowd at their open house.

Natural Gas Only Policy Generating

Significant Opposition

Legislation introduced in the

House to extend tax preferenc-es for natural gas, its vehicles, and its infrastructure has led to strong expressions of opposi-tion from several directions in recent days. A strongly worded

letter to the House Ways and Means Committee was circu-lated recently by the American Chemistry Council, the Fertil-izer Institute, the American For-est and Paper Association, and others in opposition to a natural gas only policy. More recently, Americans for Prosperity, a group with ties to the Tea Party came out in opposition to the NATGAS Act and its policy of tax preferences for a single al-ternative fuel.

NPGA strongly believes that this is in agreement with our overall policy of seeking parity among all alternative fuels to al-low consumers the opportunity to choose for themselves in the marketplace the fuels and prod-ucts that meet their needs.


an email in a day or two. Create a folder and save these emails. It has the company phone num-ber and address on it. Confirm the legitimacy of the email by calling the company before you respond.

Freeze your credit by going to the 3 rating agency websites. Http://www.equifax.com/home/en_us: freeze by certified mail or online. Http://www.experian.com/consumer/security_freeze.html: freeze by certified mail or online. Http://www.transunion.com/corporate/personal/frau-dIdentityTheft/fraudPrevention/securityFreeze.page: freeze by phone, online or certified mail.

Freezing your credit is one of the most effective ways to prevent ID theft. You must freeze at each site. Freezing your credit at one will not au-

tomatically do the same at the other two.

Depending on the state that you reside in, there could be a small fee. In my view it is nomi-nal compared to what could hap-pen if some establishes credit in your name. Having said all of this, you should not freeze your credit if you plan on financing something in the next month or so. While you can “thaw” the freeze at any time, it can take several days for a creditor to have access to your informa-tion after you initiate the thaw. You can “thaw” your account for a period of 1 to 30 days. Of course, you can permanently re-move the freeze if you like too.

When you go through the “freeze” process, you will be given a login and/or password. It probably goes without saying,

but if you are allowed to create your own, make sure that there are no similarities with the login info that you use on other sites. I keep my login information in 3 different secure places. If you lose your login “stuff”, thawing and removing a freeze can be very difficult.

One last note, if any of your material information changes, such as, name or address, you should notify the agencies of the change.

Derek Carawan is a LPL Fi-nancial Advisor and LPL Reg-istered Principal with Carawan Financial Partners, Inc./ Secu-rities offered through LPL Fi-nancial/ Member FINRA/SIPC and may be reached at, www.carawanfp.com, 919-870-8181 or [email protected].


If an inspector finds a han-dle-less ESV where a backflow check valve is required, he may ask for a demonstration proving that it performs properly. Or, he may ask you to justify its use under the equivalency option listed in section 1.5. Keep in mind that technical documenta-tion is required to demonstrate equivalency.

Substituting a device for a use it was not designed to do can be risky. Testing agencies go to a lot of effort to determine the construction and testing standards for devices. Manu-facturers spend a lot of time and money to make sure their devic-es comply with those standards

and be tested to prove it. Manu-facturers do not ask the testing agencies to evaluate them for other uses. It is somewhat like prescription drugs that end up being used for purposes other than how they are designed and tested. They may work for some people or they may make prob-lems worse for others. Some us-ers won’t know how it affects them until it may be too late to reverse it.

“Fire Safety Analysis” cont. from page 6

Make Our Industry’s Voice Heard on

Capitol Hill Propane Days serves as the

propane industry’s most impor-tant legislative outreach pro-gram. This year’s Propane Days

takes place June 13 - 15, 2011 in Washington, DC.

Propane Days begins with a Welcome Reception on Mon-day, June 13, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, June 14, 2011 legisla-tive briefings on the key issues will be held, as well as informa-tive remarks from high profile political leaders. The sched-ule features a reception on the evening of Tuesday, June 14 to visit with Senators, Members of Congress and their staffs on Capitol Hill. Don’t miss the dis-counted hotel reservation dead-line on May 13, 2011 or the ear-ly registration deadline on June 3, 2011. Visit www.Propane-Days.com to register today!

20 NC Propane Gas Association June 2011NC Propane Gas Association June 2011


NCPGA 2011 Legislative Picnic

L to R facing camera: Daren Parker, Kemp Johnson, Jeff Ruffner, Lane Walter, Tim Holder, Billy Foust, Don Worsley, Brian Funderburk, Amy Dean, Keith Barker. L to R not facing camera: Johnny Taylor, Kurt Aiken, Jerry Lindsey

NCPGA sponsored a very successful Legislative Picnic on May 11th. Over 400 meals were served to NC legislators and staff. In addition, teams of mem-bers visited the legislators at their offices to discuss our tax equalization bill. NCPGA wishes to thank the following for their participation and hard work: Keith Barker, David Briles, Brenda Cole, Amy Dean, Greg Eanes, Billy Foust, Brian Funderburk, Brenda Hall, Clyde Hall, John Jessup, Kemp Johnson, Jerry Lind-sey, George Lipford, Armistead Mauck, F. Ray Moore, Daren Parker, David Parker, Joe Phillips, Jeff Ruffner, John Taylor, Harold Vanderveer, Lane Walter, and Don Worsley.


James L. Mizelle

James L. (Jim) Mizelle passed away April 26, 2011. Jim was a former LP-Gas Engineer with the NC Dept. of Agricul-ture, and a Vice President of Blue Rhino. Services were held at Chapel of Bright Funeral Home.

In leiu of flowers, memorials may be made to:

First Presbyterian Church120 W. Hargett St.Raleigh, NC 27601.

2011 Annual Meeting and Mid-Year Board Meeting

The National Propane Gas Association’s 2011 Annual Meeting and Mid-Year Board of Directors Meeting will take place on Monday, June 13, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill in Washing-ton, DC. Any member having specific matters to present to the Board for action at this meeting is asked to forward written statements concerning these matters to the Executive Offices at least 15 days prior to the meeting. Please send correspon-dences to Peter Ferrell, Executive Assistant to the President, at [email protected]. The correspon-dences should include any action desired, support-ing data and a summary of the reasoning. \ The Nominating Luncheon for the incoming NPGA Executive Officers will take place on Monday, June 13, 2011 from 12:00pm - 1:45pm at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. The ticket price for the luncheon is $80 per person. Tickets may be pur-chased when registering for the NPGA Mid-Year Board of Directors Meeting and Propane Days on-line at www.npga.org/Register.

North Carolina Propane Gas Association5109 Hollyridge Dr. Raleigh, NC 27612

2 nc propane gas association june 2011 the official publication of the nc propane gas association,...

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