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Sal Risalvato
Executive Director
 

 

8/5/20
More Generators Mean Long Lines At Gas Stations During Tropical Storm Isaias Outages
If you're seeing long lines at gas stations - don't panic. The reason, in large part, is because people are filling up containers to power their generators, said Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline Convenience Automotive Association. "The lines are being caused because there's people that are lining up to fill up their 5-gallon cans for their generators, and that takes a lot of time. It's not just like stick it in the car," he said. "There are more people today with generators than ever before." . . . Some lines of cars at gas stations, according to reports, have extended half a mile, which Risalvato said is because it takes much longer to fill gasoline storage cans than cars. While reports from motorists have surfaced about seeing local gas stations without the lights on, Risalvato said he has not heard about an "overwhelming" number of those, adding that the ones that are out of power seem to be in the southern end of the state.

8/4/20
Video Shows Car Slam Into Gas Station Pumps In Fiery Wreck On N.J. Highway
A car crashed into another vehicle before slamming into two gas pumps in a fiery wreck Tuesday morning that was captured on video along Route 1 in North Brunswick. Township police released a clip of the crash, which involved two vehicles near Driscoll Road. The video showed a red vehicle sideswiping the other car before it veered into the station and struck the gas pumps. Fires sparked at both of the pumps.

8/3/20
NJGCA: Should Small Employers Be Blamed For Essential Employees With Covid-19?
Sal Risalvato, Executive Director of the New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience, Automotive Association (NJGCA), released the following statement in response to legislation that was sent to the governor's desk: On Thursday, the Legislature passed S-2380, a bill which presumes that if an employee at an essential business gets sick with COVID-19, they are assumed to have been infected at work and therefore are eligible for workers compensation payments. The biggest problem with this bill is the open ended timeframe for essential employees to claim their infection was a result of going to work. Governor Murphy is likely to keep the current public health emergency in effect (at least officially) for months if not years to come. Therefore, a specific timeframe for this presumption should be in effect.  The Small Business community has proposed a very reasonable period when the official "stay at home" order was in effect, plus the two weeks afterward in order to include anyone who was infected on that final day but did not show symptoms.

8/2/20
Japan's Seven & I Seals $21 Billion Deal For Marathon Petroleum's Speedway Gas Stations
 The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven convenience stores has agreed to buy Marathon Petroleum Corp's (MPC.N) Speedway gas stations for $21 billion, brushing aside coronavirus concerns to return to the table five months after initially baulking at the deal. The acquisition is one of the biggest this year, suggesting the pandemic, while forcing many companies to focus on protecting balance sheets instead of expansion, has not killed off global dealmaking altogether.

7/31/20
White House Willing To Cut A Stimulus Deal Without 'liability Shield,' Breaking With McConnell
The White House is willing to cut a deal with Democrats that leaves out Senate Republican legislation aimed at protecting employers, hospitals and schools from coronavirus-related lawsuits, according to two people with knowledge of internal White House planning. The White House wants and is pushing for the "liability shield" as a top priority but would be willing to sign off on a deal that lacks the legal protections, those people said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) controls the Senate floor and could shoot down any deal that leaves out what he has said is a necessary component of any stimulus package. One of the people familiar with the administration's thinking said the measure was "considered important but not absolutely essential." The dealmaking flexibility conflicts with the ultimatum McConnell has given Democrats that any congressional stimulus package must make it significantly harder for workers and customers to sue employers and businesses for damages related to the coronavirus.

7/30/20
NJ To Get Paid For Losses As Coronavirus, Small Jackpots Hurt Lottery Sales
After a massive drop in revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey has one, albeit small, financial bright spot ahead: Rather than spending at least $13 million to pay a bonus to the private company running the lottery, that company will pay a multimillion-dollar penalty to the state for failing to meet its sales targets.  Sluggish ticket sales due to the coronavirus and smaller jackpots in the Mega Millions and Powerball games led to a down fiscal year 2020, James Carey, executive director of the Lottery Commission, said Thursday. Sales through the end of June were $3.2 billion, a nearly 8% drop compared to $3.49 billion in 2019, he said. The lower sales means Northstar New Jersey, a gaming conglomerate that runs the sales and marketing of the lottery, hasn't been able to deliver money it had promised to the state. Under its 15-year contract, Northstar agreed to send $1.08 billion back, a percentage of overall sales that goes toward the public employee pension fund. But it had contributed just $937 million through June, Carey said.

7/30/20
We Went To The MVC To Get A Permit. It Took 7 Hours. You Decide Whether That Makes Sense
We're not here to rip the Motor Vehicle Commission. As regular readers may recall, we were understanding when the agency reopened its locations July 7 to crowds apparently far larger than state officials expected. Of course there are lines - there always are lines - we wrote at the time. How Gov. Phil Murphy and his team handled the situation moving forward would determine their competence, we said. My son and I headed to our local location (in Randolph) a little more than three weeks later - seemingly enough time to get things in order and hopefully allow for the initial surge to die down. My son, 17, needs to get his driver's permit. Here's how our day went. You decide whether the MVC - which Murphy praised earlier this week - has things running as well as they could be in the middle of a pandemic. . .

Each week, the Energy Information Administration publishes a list of average gasoline prices for the previous three weeks. NJGCA will begin including this list with the Weekly Road Warrior. Remember, these prices are reflective of self-serve everywhere except NJ.