Senator Fuschillo's Bill Expanding Use Of Alternative Fuels Signed Into Law
Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. (8th Senate District) has announced that legislation he sponsored to expand the use of alternative fuels for vehicles has been signed into law by Governor George Pataki.
"Use of renewable fuels should be encouraged to promote cleaner energy and reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Thanks to this new law, all service stations across the state will be able to purchase and sell these environmentally friendly fuels. I applaud Governor Pataki for enacting this important measure, which will go a long way towards increasing the use of clean, renewable fuel sources," said Senator Fuschillo.
"Renewable fuels provide an opportunity for us to significantly reduce our dependence on imported petroleum, and this new law will help to increase the use of renewables by allowing service stations to sell these clean, homegrown fuels," Governor Pataki said. "The ‘exclusivity’ agreements serve no purpose other than protecting the interests of fuel providers at the expense of motorists who want to use E85, biodiesel or other renewable fuels. This year, we have taken significant steps to increase the production and use of alternative fuels, and I am pleased to sign this bill to provide a viable alternative to high-priced gasoline."
This new law would ease the restrictions that a fuel provider could impose on a retail service station from purchasing alternative fuels such as E-85 ethanol/gasoline mixture or biodiesel fuel. Currently, gasoline supply companies routinely require their franchise gas stations to sell only their particular brand of fuel. However, many of these companies do not produce alternative fuels, and forbid their retail stations to purchase these types of fuel from other sources. This effectively prevents retail service stations from offering alternative fuels.
Under the law sponsored by Senator Fuschillo, fuel providers that do not offer alternative fuels to their retail service stations will no longer be allowed to prohibit those service stations from buying these types of fuels from other distributors.
The law took effect immediately after it was signed.
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