Be it redundancy or consistency, the NACS legislative focus this week has been on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tobacco legislation, credit card interchange fees and underground storage tank inspection funding. During the Presidents' Day recess, however, NACS Government Relations staff has been scattered around the country hosting grassroots meetings with NACS retail members and their members of Congress. These meetings provide the best opportunity for members of Congress to hear from convenience and petroleum retailing constituents directly, and at the same time make a link with the NACS staff who represent them daily on Capitol Hill. As NACS continues these grassroots meetings in the future, I urge you to attend when we bring the "road show" to your area.

Now that legislation to give FDA authority to regulate the retailing of tobacco has been introduced in the Senate (S. 625) and House (H.R. 1108), the clock is running. Lead sponsor of the Senate bill, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), has scheduled a hearing in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, of which he chairs, for February 27. This hearing, "The Need for FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products," will begin what bill supporters hope is a fast-track to the legislation's passage. Although this bill is opposed by NACS as written, we believe that changes to the retailing sections (if adopted) could make it acceptable. If you have not already done so, please contact your senators and representatives in Washington and urge them to work with NACS to make the necessary changes. NACS talking points (PDF) are available online.

Also this week, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) toured a Giant Eagle Food store in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, to observe credit card usage and continue his fact finding on the outrageous hidden interchange fees that credit card companies charge. Arranged by the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC), which NACS helped found, this tour takes us one step closer toward congressional action. 

"We may need to modify our antitrust laws to stop credit card companies from engaging in collusive or conspiratorial activities to gouge or jack up the prices," Sen. Specter commented after his visit.

On the issue of LUST, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report requested by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) assessing the financial impact on public funds to cleanup existing contamination caused by petroleum releases from underground storage tanks (PDF). The report estimates the government cleanup burden at $12 billion to address 54,000 releases. Another 63,000 releases are expected to be funded by responsible parties, i.e. tank owners.

Briefly, NACS considers this report a tool that can be used to convince Congress to appropriate more money from the LUST Trust Fund to the states to prevent any future releases. NACS lobbyist John Eichberger noted that if Congress had listened to industry years ago and authorized the use of LUST funds to ensure all tank owners were compliant with regulations and had fully funded the program, the number of releases to be cleaned up would be dramatically lower. NACS will be sure to communicate to Congress that it shares responsibility for the environmental issues facing local communities and that it must begin spending on this program the $200 million it collects in fees every year.

Have a great weekend.

Lyle Beckwith
Sr. VP Government Relations