December 12, 2024

Part One of the ILTA 2025 Safety Survey is Now Open!  

Part One of the ILTA 2025 Safety Survey, which will determine the winners of the 2025 Safety Excellence Award, is now open and can be accessed here. Part One of the survey consists of 23 questions. Each question will ask you to evaluate leading indicators related to multiple aspects of your company’s safety program. Part Two, which will cover OSHA safety metrics and the Platinum Application, will open mid-January.  

Please click here for more information and to download an Excel copy of the survey with the questions and rating rubric for you and your team to review prior to completing the survey. 

Questions can be directed to Christopher Meilink at cmeilink@ilta.org. 

ILTA is Looking for New Environmental Subcommittee Co-Chairs  

Considering getting more involved? ILTA is looking for two new co-chairs for the Environmental Subcommittee within the Environment, Government, Health, Safety & Security (EGHSS) Committee. This is a fantastic opportunity to lead within an industry association. Co-chairs must be able to attend ILTA's two semi-annual EGHSS meetings.  

If interested in the role, please email Christopher Meilink at cmeilink@ilta.org. 

ILTA December 18 Energy Evolution Webinar: The Post-Election Updates 

Join ILTA for this month’s Energy Evolution webinar featuring Ted Michaels and Jessica Johnson Bennett, Partners at AJW, Inc. Ted and Jessica will follow up on their October presentation to discuss post-election updates and their impacts on energy transition markets and policies relevant to the terminal industry. Ted and Jessica will walk through how the election’s outcomes are anticipated to influence federal and state government initiatives, incentives, and regulations that affect bulk liquid storage, handling, and distribution. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, December 18 at 2:00 PM ET. Register to attend here.

ILTA 2025 Trade Show Rebooking

Rebooking for the 2025 trade show is underway! If you have not filled out your application to exhibit, please contact Justin Olson at jolson@thewymancompany.com.

ILTA Welcomes New Member Empire Midstream

The ILTA staff and Board of Directors has recently welcomed Empire Midstream LLC ("Empire") as a new member to the association. Based in New Orleans, LA, they bring decades of operational experience, primarily in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Empire is a dynamic growth oriented midstream development, investment, operating, and management company. Empire develops and invests in midstream ventures through affiliated companies and provides all-inclusive operating and management services to those affiliated companies and others. Empire Gibson Terminal LLC acquired the Gibson Terminal, located in Gibson, LA, in 2020, offering crude oil storage, unloading and loading of oil barges, and market options to St. James via the Ship Shoal Pipeline System.

ILTA Rebrands to Reflect Authority, Advocacy, and Unity 

In its 50th year as an organization, ILTA is proud to announce a transformative rebrand aligned with our enduring mission to represent and support the liquid terminal industry. As the 119th Congress commences, we're thrilled to unveil a new logo and brand identity that embodies strength, resourcefulness, intellect, authority, and patriotism.  

Additional brand elements will be rolled out in the coming months. Learn more about ILTA's rebrand, designed to lay a solid foundation for 2025 initiatives.

ILTA is Delighted to Announce Two New Security Subcommittee Co-Chairs

Ronnie Odom, Ergon Inc. and Jimmy Wooten, Murphy Oil USA, Inc. have each accepted the role of co-chair of the ILTA Security Subcommittee. They are excited to work with fellow members on security matters critical to the terminal industry. ILTA would like to thank Jerry Jerdine, Ergon Inc. for co-chairing the subcommittee for the last several years.

ILTA Releases the 2024 Compensation and Benefits Report

The 2024 Compensation and Benefits Report provides terminal companies the opportunity to compare their compensation and benefits with industry averages. The report includes compensation figures for a variety of different positions in the terminal industry, as well as information on benefits, including healthcare coverage, retirement plans, wellness programs, and different forms of leave. 

Terminal members that did not participate in the survey can purchase the report for $200. If you would like to purchase the 2024 ILTA Compensation & Benefits report, please contact Christopher Meilink at cmeilink@ilta.org. 

ILTA PAC Holds Fundraiser with Senator Cynthia Lummis

The ILTA PAC was successful in its fundraising efforts upon holding its first-ever luncheon in support of Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) on November 13. Senator Lummis has been a champion for the bulk liquid industry as a member of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. To learn more about the ILTA PAC and future events, please reach out to James Privette (jprivette@ilta.org), Manager of Government Affairs and Communications.

ILTA Holds 2024 TOPS in New Orleans   

The 2024 Terminal Operating Practices Symposium (TOPS) was held on December 3 at the New Orleans Marriott. Over 50 attendees heard presentations from fellow terminal operators from Energy Transfer, CITGO, Intercontinental Terminals Company, Murphy Oil USA, LBC Tank Terminals, U.S. Venture Inc., Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Flint Hills Resources, and Howard Energy Partners on a wide array of health and safety topics. This unique educational series offered terminal operators a platform to learn from each other and discuss effective operating practices and lessons learned from various incidents. 2025 TOPS will take place next December in a location to be announced soon.

ILTA and Conn Maciel Carey Hold Webinar on OSHA Heat Illness & Injury Rulemaking

OSHA announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Heat Injury and Illness Prevention, which would have required all employers in general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture sectors to develop and implement Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Plans (HIIPP). ILTA joined an industry coalition led by Conn Maciel Carey LLP, a law firm specializing in labor and employment matters, to provide comments as part of the rulemaking process. 

ILTA held a webinar on the proposed rulemaking on November 6, featuring Eric Conn, managing partner of Conn Maciel Carey. Eric delivered an in-depth overview of the rule while also laying out the timeline for the working group’s comments which are due on January 14, 2025.  

If you have questions about the NPRM, how to get involved, or how to access the webinar, please reach out to James Privette, Government Affairs and Communications Manager, at jprivette@ilta.org. 

USCG Delays TWIC Implementation for Certain Facilities Until 2029 

Announced in the Federal Register on October 31, 2024, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) is delaying the implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) 

Reader Requirements for certain facilities until May 8, 2029. This announcement comes in the wake of the publishing of a 2022 RAND Corporation cost impact report of the rule requirements at chemical facilities around the country. ILTA terminal members contributed to the study, providing researchers with key insights into the significant cost of the rule if it were implemented as written.  

This final rule delays implementing TWIC readers for (1) facilities that handle certain dangerous cargoes (CDC) in bulk but do not transfer those cargoes from or to a vessel; (2) facilities that handle CDC in bulk and do transfer those cargoes from or to a vessel; and (3) facilities that receive vessels carrying CDC in bulk, but do not, during that vessel-to-facility interface, transfer those bulk cargoes from or to those vessels. 

The 2016 TWIC Reader final rule remains in effect for facilities receiving vessels certificated to carry more than 1,000 passengers, as this final rule does not affect those facilities.

Select U.S. Clean Energy and Fuel Incentives Face Uncertainty 

The future of clean energy tax credits established or modified under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) impacting the liquid terminal industry face increasing uncertainty as the U.S. transitions to the Trump administration. While a full repeal of the IRA is unlikely given the bipartisan support for certain provisions, Congress and the Trump Administration are likely to take a targeted approach to certain policies through the budget reconciliation process in 2025. For example, tax credits for electric vehicles are a likely target, while incentives to support carbon capture and storage are widely believed to be safely in place. Read more.

Incoming Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair, Capito, Plans to Ease Suite of PFAS Rules

Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), the incoming chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), has expressed her plans to ease the impact of PFAS-related rules posed by the Biden Administration’s EPA. During a November 20 hearing, Capito noted her intention to work on legislation to waive CERCLA liability for some passive receivers while continuing to hold manufacturers and primary contributors of PFAS pollution accountable, an action which passive receivers are hopeful could break the deadlock on legislation which prevented a broader bipartisan PFAS bill from moving forward in 2024. Capito highlighted how the designation of PFOA and PFOS under CERCLA would impose financial penalties on passive receivers of PFAS, such as utilities, through strict cleanup costs under its liability system. Additionally, Capito highlighted her plan to utilize her new oversight authority to press the incoming Trump Administration to ease the current EPA’s Safe Water Drinking Act’s (SWDA) rules for six PFAS. Read more.

Trump Administration Likely to Change Course on Key PFAS Policies

A former EPA official believes that the incoming Trump Administration will likely slow EPA’s current actions and stall future policymaking regarding PFAS. Betsy Southerland, who held positions in EPA’s water and waste offices, stated that Trump officials may try to repeal the Biden Administration’s drinking water and Superfund rules while hindering critical PFAS risk assessment efforts. This comes despite President-elect Trump’s pick for EPA, Lee Zeldin’s, background supporting legislation that would have regulated certain PFAS under the National Drinking Water Standard during his time as a Republican representative from New York. 

Southerland raises that the second Trump Administration may draw on PFAS policies from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which makes recommendations to revise the groundwater cleanup guide and revisit the hazardous designation of PFOA and PFOS under CERCLA. Southerland believes the Trump Administration will either kill the Superfund rule or refuse to defend it from litigation—then repeal it—as well as vacate the landmark PFAS drinking water rule. In response to deregulation, it is likely that some states will work to progress beyond EPA in regulating PFAS. 

Lawmakers Seek Funding for Airport AFFF Transition 

A bipartisan group of lawmakers are urging House appropriators to back a provision in the Senate’s FY25 transportation appropriations bill to allocate $70 million for a new program assisting airports in transitioning away from AFFF to fluorine-free firefighting foam (F3). The Senate’s program, approved under an FAA reauthorization law signed in May 2023, provides $350 million in grants of up to $2 million per airport to cover costs for the transition of AFFF to F3, including purchasing F3 for aircraft rescue and fire equipment, disposal of PFAS and AFFF in their firefighting equipment and in wastewater, disposal of equipment or components, purchasing equipment needed to transition to an acceptable substitute foam, and the cost of replacement aircraft rescue and firefighting equipment. However, without appropriations, the FAA cannot disburse funds for the program. 

The funding effort comes as Congress faces a short timeframe to finalize an omnibus spending bill for FY25 upon returning from the Thanksgiving break, with the current continuing resolution expiring on December 20. The lawmakers acknowledge that the funding will help airports transition to F3 quickly and meet environmental stewardship and public health protection goals. ILTA continues to monitor the development of policy impacting the transition from AFFF to F3.