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Only in California, and coming soon to a State near you...<sigh>
This is crazy...California, the land of fruits and nuts...
13 known failures out of how man millions of uses???? One person hospitalized??? Filling your car is safer than cutting on Onion, shall we ban knives next?? Nutcrackers???? Pencils???? They must save us from ourselves...
California orders gas stations to repair VST brand nozzles
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By Mark Glover
mglover@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 6B
Last Modified: Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010 - 12:08 am
Citing "a hazard to the public health and welfare," the state fire marshal on Monday issued a mandate to remove thousands of "hold open" latches on gas pump nozzles statewide.
Acting State Fire Marshal Tonya L. Hoover spelled out specifics in a letter mailed to operators of about 3,000 service stations, or nearly one-third the total in California.
It's not known how many gas stations in the Sacramento region are affected or who will pay for the new latches.
The state cited a potential fire hazard from malfunctioning latches on nozzles manufactured by Springboro, Ohio-based Vapor Systems Technologies Inc. The fire marshal said the malfunction could unexpectedly spray gasoline before a nozzle is inserted into a vehicle's gas tank.
The affected nozzles are marked with the "VST" logo.
Station operators must have the latches removed by Oct. 15 "by competent personnel, such as certified service station contractors."
"They'll need to do that until a permanent solution or a new nozzle is ready," state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant said.
The fire marshal also recommends that stations post a sign saying the "hold-open" clips have been removed and warning customers to not use foreign objects to wedge open nozzle levers, which some customers have done.
Berlant said an undetermined number of stations already have removed the latches, following a June 10 state-issued alert that "damaged" VST nozzles were spraying gasoline.
The number of reported gas-spraying incidents is small – 13 confirmed by state officials, including one person who was hospitalized when gas spurted into his face and eyes.
Public safety – with the potential of sprayed gasoline catching fire – is the state's primary concern.
"This is a fire and safety hazard, so there's really no other choice," Berlant said.
State officials said VST and service station owners groups have been cooperating.
However, some hard feelings are evident.
Lawyer Todd Sorrell, VST's counsel in California, said the nozzles were approved by the state as part of a California-mandated vapor recovery system designed to reduce air pollution at gas stations.
"They passed the state's rigorous testing, and since their introduction, they've been used over 1 billion times in California without any spray or leaking," Sorrell said.
Sorrell also noted that some nozzles might have been damaged by consumers, some of whom forget to remove a nozzle and pull away from a gas pump.
Sorrell said VST expects to "bring a new nozzle to the market with an additional safety mechanism built into it" within one or two months, but it will depend on how quickly the state inspects and approves the new models.
Jay McKeeman, vice president of government relations for the Sacramento-based California Independent Oil Marketers Association, likewise noted that current VST nozzles passed state inspection during last year's vapor emissions upgrades.
McKeeman, whose CIOMA members are primarily small-business operators and fuel distributors, suggested that a fund – similar to what BP established for cleanup compensation costs in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill – be established to defray potentially devastating costs to service station operators, who have already spent tens of thousands to meet state standards on gas vapor emissions.
Last year, the service station industry said retrofits cost about $11,000 per pump, or an average of about $80,000 for a typical service station.
For the VST latches, no one was willing Monday to put a price tag on the retrofits or determine who should pay the costs.
GAS STATION NOZZLES AT A GLANCE
What it does: The acting state fire marshal on Monday issued a safety mandate requiring removal of certain "hold open" latches used on some gas station nozzles.
Who's affected: Some 3,000 California service stations using gas pump nozzles manufactured by Springboro, Ohio-based Vapor Systems Technologies Inc. It's not clear how many of those are in the Sacramento region.
What's the problem: The state fire marshal says the "hold open" latches on VST nozzles could unexpectedly malfunction, creating a spray of gasoline before the nozzle is inserted into a vehicle's gas tank. According to the California Air Resources Board, 13 gas-spraying incidents have been reported, including one person who was hospitalized.
What's the fix: Latches must be removed by Oct. 15 by certified personnel. Gas stations with affected nozzles are asked to post warning signs, reminding consumers to not use foreign objects to wedge open a nozzle lever during fueling.
Source: California State Fire Marshal
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