Weekly 5: New bill seeks to address ethanol issues
The BI Weekly 5 is a collection of tips, news and data affecting the boating industry this week. Be sure to look for the BI Weekly 5 every week on BoatingIndustry.com.
1. New bill seeks to address ethanol issues
A bipartisan group of four members of the U.S. House have reintroduced the Renewable Fuel Standard Reform Act.
Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Steve Womack (R-Ark.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) last week introduced H.R. 1315, which eliminates corn-based ethanol requirements, caps the amount of ethanol that can be blended into conventional gasoline at 10 percent, requires the EPA to set cellulosic biofuels levels at production levels, and decreases the total volume of renewable fuel that must be contained in gasoline sold or introduced into commerce for years 2017-2022. At the time of introduction, the RFS Reform Act had 42 bipartisan cosponsors.
2. Sierra Club to sue EPA over ethanol
In other ethanol news, the Sierra Club has filed notice that it intends to sue the EPA for its “chronic failure to conduct the required environmental impact analysis on the Renewable Fuel Standard.”
The EPA is over three years overdue in its last review of impacts for Congress and six years overdue on its air quality impact analysis, that was due within 18 months of the law’s passage, the group said.
“It is unlawful for the EPA to so blatantly disregard its own rules and mandates when it comes to protecting our communities and environment,” said Sierra Club Staff Attorney Devorah Ancel.
The Sierra Club is concerned about “unchecked land conversion for ethanol production, which destroys native habitat and harms sensitive species on a massive scale,” Ancel said.
3. New owner for South Jersey Yacht Sales
George C. Robinson III has acquired South Jersey Yacht Sales, a yacht dealer with offices in Cape May and Point Pleasant.
The business, previously owned by Dick Weber, has sold fishermen sport-fishing boats in the area since 1984. Robinson said he intends to keep the current management.
4. Boating safety icon Marjorie Kent mourned
Marjorie Kent, known for her and her husband’s work on boating safety, died February 23 at age 98, the Long Beach Gazette reported.
Before the Internet, if you dialed the United States Power Squadron 800 number to ask about seamanship and navigation classes, it was Marjorie Kent who answered the call and directed boaters to the closest class, the paper said. Her husband was known as “Mr. Safe Boating” and the Kents founded the Long Beach Marina Boat Owners Association and the Marina Yacht Club of Long Beach, and were significant contributors to the design of Alamitos Bay and Downtown Long Beach marinas, the paper said.
5. Bad leaders get bad employees
Leaders who treat employees badly get the kind of employees they deserve: employees who don’t care, writes Steven L. Blue, president and CEO of Miller Ingenuity.
“If you have these kinds of employees, don’t blame them. Look to the leadership. Did the leadership create the kind of employees they deserve? Great leaders create great employees. Poor leaders create poor employees,” Blue writes.
Blue suggests that every company needs to do a leadership checkup by looking at the people the leaders are supervising.
