WV Oil Marketers & Grocers Association Calls on Governor to Remove the State of Emergency Classification on Fuel

Charleston, WV (January 2010) – The West Virginia Oil Marketers & Grocers Association (OMEGA) is calling upon Governor Manchin to lift the State of Emergency classification on fuel in West Virginia so that transportation and heating fuel providers can continue to have adequate supply.

President Obama issued a State of Emergency declaration for the states due to the prevalence of the H1N1 Virus and West Virginia has been under the State of Emergency since Oct. 23, 2009.

Jan Vineyard, President of OMEGA, said, "Because of regulations our members must follow during a State of Emergency situation and conflict with laws and business practices in surrounding states, we have experienced instances of outages of heating fuel and diesel fuel for emergency service vehicles.　 These unintended consequences need to be reconciled with State law and we intend to work with the legislature this Session to address these issues.　 The changes we’ll seek will keep West Virginia citizens supplied with fuel, while offering them consumer protections as it pertains to price."