To be held at: Washington D.C.
PMAA CONGRESSIONAL VISIT
WASHINGTON CONFERENCE 2008
Member of Congress Visited: WY Sen. Barrasso, WY Sen. Enzi, WY Congresswoman Cubin, CO Sen. Ken Salazar, CO Sen. Allard, CO Congresspersons DeGette, Musgrave, Lamborn, Perlmutter, Salazar, Tancredo, and Udall. (Bold = meet with congressman).
Staff Contact: Don Richards (Barrasso), Flip McConnaughey & Chris Tomassi (Enzi), Rick Axthelm (Cubin), Dr. Ben Brown & Steve Black (Sen. Salazar), Larry Vigil & Nick Zupancic (Allard), Stephen Plevniak (DeGette), Nate Bowen (Musgrave), Craig Rushing (Lamborn), Ben Vonachen (Perlmutter), Beth Elliott (Rep. Salazar), Andrew Good (Tancredo), and Adam Jones (Udall).
PMAA Members in Attendance:_CO/WY Pres. Meyer Sussman; 1st VP & CO Chairman Eric Balenseifen; 2nd VP & WY Chairman Steve Perkins; Treasurer Scott Paulson; CO VC Bill Gallagher; WY PMAA Director Mike Bailey; Board member Tom Gray. (two from WY and five from CO).
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Issues Discussed at Meeting:_Opened our meetings with an explanation of who petroleum marketers are and where they fit in the oil and gas chain. Many members and staff were not clear just who we were so we wanted to assure they understood. We then transitioned into discussions about credit card fees and the fact that credit card companies are making more per gallon than we are. We also hit the commodities trading issue pretty heavily.
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General Comments on Member’s Position on Issues: Most members were well award of the credit card fee issue since the banks and credit card companies were on the “Hill” within the previous couple of weeks. The commodities issues they seemed to grasp but primarily only with a surface understanding. They almost all agreed that there needs to be oversight and transparency….as well as relief when negotiating with credit card companies.