U.S. Legislative Updates

NAFA has joined with other organization is support of the Halt Index Trading of Energy Commodities Act or HITEC Act. The legislation would prevent a harmful form of energy trading that drives up fuel prices for American businesses and consumers without regard for supply and demand fundamentals. This legislation would prohibit index funds from speculating in energy commodities, including crude oil, gasoline, and home heating oil. The HITEC Act (H.R.5186) was introduced on April 27, 2012, by Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts.


The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed a new federal motor vehicle safety standard to require electronic stability control (ESC) systems on large commercial trucks, motorcoaches, and other large buses. According to NHTSA research, the technology could prevent up to fifty-six percent of rollover crashes each year—the deadliest among all crash types—and another fourteen percent of loss-of-control crashes. NHTSA estimates that a standard requiring ESC on the nation's large trucks and large buses would prevent up to 2,329 crashes, eliminate an estimated 649 to 858 injuries, and prevent between forty-nine and sixty fatalities a year.

While many truck tractors and large buses can currently be ordered with this technology, the proposed standard would require ESC systems as standard equipment on these types of vehicles. As proposed, the rule would take effect between two and four years after the standard is finalized, depending on the type of vehicle.


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final rule determining that Stage II vapor recovery systems used at gas stations and fleet fueling facilities can be now phased-out.

The agency is waiving Stage II requirements in light of what it now determines to be the "widespread use" nationwide of on-board refueling vapor recovery (ORVR) equipment on late model vehicles. However, fleets will not be able to remove Stage II equipment immediately.

Before that can happen, state regulators must submit amended air pollution control plans (SIP plans) to the EPA for approval, a process that can take as long as a year or more. The EPA promises that it will soon release a guidance document providing state regulators with streamlined process on how to amend SIP plans for the removal of Stage II. The guidance document will also give state regulators more flexibility in demonstrating that removal of Stage II would not have a significant impact on federal ozone emission reduction mandates. The EPA has indicated that the guidance document will also address how Stage II equipment in the northeast Ozone Transport region (OTR), which is mandated under a different section of the Clean Air Act (CAA), can be also be phased out.