By Guy Page
A Vermont Daily report about hundreds of Vermonters forbidden by state law from receiving heating fuel deliveries incited a strong reader response. Vermonters wondered how and why a Legislature could pass a fuel tank inspection law that would literally leave homeowners in the cold and expose them to the public embarassment of being named on an Agency of Natural Resources online database.
Guy Page
The state of Vermont is showing some flexibility by extending the inspection deadline for some types of fuel tanks. However, the no-delivery rule for inspected-and-failed fuel tanks is still in force. As confirmed in the statement from the Vermont Fuel Dealers printed below, homeowners who haven’t had their heating oil fuel tanks inspected now have until May. An uninspected tank that doesn’t pose a “significant threat” may still be filled.
However, for the hundreds of Vermonters who have already had their inspections and have received “red tags” indicating the need to replace or repair their fuel tanks, the no-fuel prohibition is in effect and will remain in effect until the work is done, per a 2017 law passed by the Vermont Legislature. The Vermont heating fuel industry is working at full speed to repair and replace red-tagged tanks, but appointments are being scheduled into December, with new names being added daily to the state database of faulty fuel oil tank homeowners.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts a cold winter, but with an estimated 10% price reduction for heating oil — provided there’s an approved fuel tank to hold it.
Statement Received Monday, October 19 from the Vermont Fuel Dealers:
Vermont’s AST regulations prevent fuel oil dealers from filling an uninspected tank. After Governor Scott declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19, VFDA asked for and received a partial extension of the August 15 tank inspection deadline. That extension will expire on November 1, so VFDA asked for another. In response, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) agreed to provide limited relief for oilheat customers that have not yet had a tank inspection.
Under the new Enforcement Discretion Memo, a fuel dealer can fill an uninspected tank of an existing customer until May 1, 2021, as long as filling the tank doesn’t pose a “significant threat to human health or the environment.” This enforcement discretion will end either on May 1, 2021, or when the state of emergency related to the outbreak of COVID-19 is declared over.
Important:
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This enforcement discretion DOES NOT apply to outdoor tanks. All outdoor tanks must still be inspected and meet all five minimum safety requirements before they are filled.
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The enforcement discretion ONLY applies to uninspected oilheat tanks in basements IF the customer has been with the same fuel company since 2017. If a customer switches to a different oilheat supplier, the tank MUST be inspected first.
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The prohibition on filling a red tagged tank HAS NOT been lifted. If a tank has been “red tagged” it has already been inspected and failed one or more of the five minimum safety requirements. Red tagged tanks can only be filled by a hand and must be fixed or replaced before the next delivery from a truck.
Read more of Guy Page’s reports. Vermont Daily is sponsored by True North Media.
The State of VT continues to require automobile inspections, and makes them more stringent and expensive as time goes on, now even making the mechanics pay a private provider for the necessary equipment. Onerous septic rules have been codified that place tremendous financial burdens on a property owner if a system fails and now we are awash in ugly mound systems that ruin a backyard’s functionality. It was just a matter of time that an “inspection” of one’s home interior was required.
I will most certainly fill my own tank with diesel and tell the nosy liberals who run this State where to shove their plastic-coated copper piping. Only a matter of time before an inspection of wood stoves for EPA certification is required before you can have wood delivered. If you are complaining about this kind of oppressive legislation and you vote for liberal democrats, then you have only yourself to blame. Elections have consequences.
There needs to be a house “and senate” cleaning in Montpelier.
This is just another liberal scam to take your money, Voting has consequences and
Vermont leads the pack for picking fools, and this is just another case in point !!
Wake up people, before it’s too late.
Another foolish regulation, this one forcing Vermonter’s to line up at the off road diesel pump to get fuel that will be transferred to their “illegal” storage tanks – spilling fuel all the way.
Vermont’s leftist Dems are able to read just enough to get them to the Dem column on their ballot, its apparent they aren’t reading anything else.
Update on meeting Vermont fuel tank codes.
I was cited for having a tank that was not up to Vermont’s amended NFPA code by my fuel oil dealer when they proposed a $500 fix. I decided to read the regulations and found that the code applies to new installations, not those occurring before the code’s amended enactment date. I pushed back on the oil company, citing the specific regulations, and after some discussion and a couple of calls, they agreed (for now at least).
So, before you go spending a lot of money on your oil tanks, be they red-tagged or otherwise deemed insufficient, do your homework and make the inspectors substantiate their claims in writing. And don’t hesitate to push back if the judgment is a subjective interpretation. Unless there is a specific defect causing an imminent danger, many pre-existing installations could be okay.
NFPA 31 Standard for the Installation of Oil ¬Burning Equipment 2006 Edition
1.4 Retroactivity. The provisions of this standard reflect a consensus of what is necessary to provide an acceptable degree of protection from the hazards addressed in this standard at the time the standard was issued.
1.4.1 Unless otherwise specified, the provisions of this standard shall not apply to facilities, equipment, structures, or installations that existed or were approved for construction or installation prior to the effective date of the standard. Where specified, the provisions of this standard shall be retroactive. 1.4.2 In those cases where the authority having jurisdiction determines that the existing situation presents an unacceptable degree of risk, the authority having jurisdiction shall be permitted to apply retroactively any portions of this standard deemed appropriate.
1.4.3 The retroactive requirements of this standard shall be permitted to be modified if their application clearly would be impractical in the judgment of the authority having jurisdiction, and only where it is clearly evident that a reasonable degree of safety is provided.
This is all interesting. The state has an inspection deadline of next may. My tank hasn’t been inspected, and even if it was, and failed, it would not be empty enough to change out until the year after next. — It was filled in July, but I burn wood for heat and hot water, and use at most 100 gallons of oil a year. So what are they going to do to me???
If I still lived up there and this happened to me I would be filling up with offroad diesel fuel. IF I was close to NH I would be getting it there.
You folks need to add a hammer and sickle to your state flag….
Upon further thought… this is just an extension of your over zealous car inspections. Thankfully none of those down here either….
As the reader noted below. Death by a thousand cuts. Welcome to Vermont. I’ll take that from your wallet, thank you.
I have been living in my home for 44 years and have NO problem with my tank! Inspector said my exhaust pipe is 1/4 inch to small, quote of $325.00 to change pipe, crazy state rule! No rust or leaks either in cellar
Ken,
You got off cheap. I’m in Brattleboro, and my 1/4 inch fix was over $900.00 for about 30 feet of the larger vent pipe and labor. And my pipes had been working without problems, leaks or rust since 1950. In Vermont, we’re dealing with laws, rules and regulations passed by legislators who are totally clueless when it comes to the actual conditions Vermonters are living with on a daily basis, and they don’t seek input from those their actions will effect. Vote ’em out.
If that was the only problem you could have changed it your self for a lot less. I did that for my daughter.
Here’s the deal. I received a proposal from my heating oil vendor to inspect and upgrade my fuel tank for around $500. My tank is less than 20 years old, it’s inside, and functioning fine. So, I called an independent HVAC guy to inspect my tank and it was, as I suspected, just fine.
What happens is that oil company vendors are licensed by the State and the oil they sell is heavily taxed by the State. These companies are beholden to State inspectors, and they are less likely to fairly represent their customers, because their customers can’t no longer hold the vendors accountable, as is the case in true free competitive markets.
In the final analysis, its less expensive in the short term to simply upgrade your oil tank, whether or not it needs it, rather than risk the alternatives. The State knows this and designs its regulations to support conforming businesses. It’s called crony capitalism.
I’m really so sick of these governments doing this stuff to people.
And they have the audacity to put these “Please Be Kind” signs all over our towns.
Well maybe if these people were not driving us nuts with their off the charts government overreach and non-stop attempts to strip us of our Rights and Freedoms, we wouldn’t be so darned miserable to them.
#GetOffMyLawn
Let’s face it this red tag legislation is nothing more than another ploy to make fossil fuel unaffordable for the average Vermonter. Their philosophy, Death by a Thousand Cuts.
I fill 55 gal. drums with untaxed Diesel for farm use at a distributor. I don’t recall what the fuel tax is here, but the road use Diesel has a sixty cent surcharge. About thirty five years ago, I did the same thing with heating oil (I’ve been using gas for a decade – the gas well is on the farm). I seem to recall picking it up at the distributor was about twenty six cents/gallon cheaper than delivery. That’s over $250 for a season. Yeah, delivery was convenient, but if delivery is denied… and I was going for tractor fuel anyway. Talk to your local farmer. If the law is about delivery, there’s nothing barring going to get it yourself. Progressives running my life annoy the hell out of me.
Great response – and what I would expect from self-reliant Vermonters. Buy a tank, fill it up and bypass the delivery company.
sorry states cant come between people and their contracts to have fuel delivered “No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or**** Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts***, or grant any Title of Nobility.”
yeah sorry in the name of safety is a due process violation and not to mention hindering commerce is a federal trade violation
The most feared words in vermont…
I’m from the government and i’m here to help!