Letter to the Chairman of the National Conference on Weights & Measures Michael Cleary

Letter

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and 13 Members of the House and Senate sent a letter to the National Conference on Weight & Measures, urging them to issue a policy permitting the installation of temperature adjustment equipment at U.S. retail gasoline pumps. This technology would ensure that a gallon of gasoline pumped in the summer has the same energy content as a gallon pumped in the winter. It would also potentially save consumers an estimated $1.5 billion in hot fuel overcharges just this summer alone. The National Conference on Weights & Measures is slated to meet at its annual meeting July 8, 2007 - July 12, 2007.

"The National Conference on Weights and Measures should promote the most accurate measurement of gasoline, which takes the temperature of the gasoline into account. Consumers could thereby expect a considerable cost savings as well," Kucinich said.

The oil industry has known for 100 years that gasoline expands with temperature. As it warms, gasoline expands by volume but not by weight or energy content. Since the 1920's, the oil industry has taken temperature into account for wholesale transactions, and uses a 60 degree Fahrenheit standard when measuring gasoline at wholesale.

Retail sales are not temperature adjusted in the United States. However, in Canada the oil companies have voluntarily embraced temperature compensation for retail gasoline sales.

Kucinich, who is Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee which has jurisdiction over the Department of Energy, held a hearing on the "hot fuels" topic on June 8, 2007. He invited the CEOs of ExxonMobil and Shell to testify, but both declined the invitation. The Subcommittee is planning on holding another hearing during the week of July 23d in which the oil executives will testify.

"I think every member of Congress will become concerned as they learn more about this issue, because it concerns their constituents, who are paying for gasoline they are not getting when temperatures rise above 60 degrees," Kucinich said.

The text of the letter that Kucinich sent is below:

July 2, 2007

Mr. Michael Cleary
Chairman
National Conference on Weights & Measures
15245 Shady Grove Rd., Suite 130
Rockville, MD 20850

Dear Mr. Cleary:

We are writing to strongly urge you and your colleagues to vote on the issue of temperature adjusted fuel standards during the 92nd Annual Meeting of the National Conference of Weights & Measures on July 8-12, 2007. American consumers have for far too long suffered from unfair petroleum industry practices, whereby gasoline sold at the retail level is not adjusted for fluctuations in energy content based on temperature. Our constituents demand and deserve fair prices for gasoline, and we expect that the Conference will address this critically important issue.

As you noted in your June 8, 2007 testimony before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Domestic Policy Subcommittee, the issue of temperature compensation is nothing new. In fact, it dates back to the 1900s, when Standard Oil Trust commissioned an American Petroleum Institute study to standardize a gallon of petroleum product. The study was finished in 1917, and since that time the industry has used a 60 degree standard for all wholesale transactions. Retail transactions, however, get no such adjustment. This is simply unacceptable. As you are aware, a recent report conducted by Subcommittee staff indicates that this practice will cost the American consumer an estimated $1.5 billion in the summer of 2007 alone.

We appreciate the historical perspective you provided in your June 8 testimony. We understand that barriers existed when the issue of temperature adjustment was last raised in the 1974 National Conference; however, technology currently available would allow a seamless transition to a system that allows for temperature adjustment at the retail level. As you know, such technology is nearly universal in Canada, and could easily be implemented here as well. Further, the cost of installing new technology simply does not outweigh the benefits to consumers. As was made clear in the June 8 hearing, gasoline retailers currently upgrade pump technology on a regular basis, and changing the technology as a part of this process would not impose a large financial burden.

We understand that voting members of the National Conference will be faced with opposition to addressing the issue of temperature adjusted retail fuel volumes in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook 130; however, we strongly urge you to address this vitally important issue now. We will be following this issue closely. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Jaron Bourke in Congressman Kucinich's office at (202) 225-6427.

Sincerely,

Dennis Kucinich
Member of Congress
Chairman, Domestic Policy Subcommittee

Claire McCaskill
Senator

Elijah E. Cummings
Member of Congress
Domestic Policy Subcommittee

Barbara Boxer
Senator

Danny Davis
Member of Congress
Domestic Policy Subcommittee

Frank Lautenberg
Senator

Diane Watson
Member of Congress
Domestic Policy Subcommittee

Raul Grijalva
Member of Congress

Peter DeFazio
Member of Congress

John Hall
Member of Congress

Jim Moran
Member of Congress

Betty Sutton
Member of Congress

Charles Wilson
Member of Congress

Mazie Hirono
Member of Congress

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