Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Bush hopes his law pen is mightier than storms

HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS: A new law requires gas station owners to have a generator available and be able to move if needed.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 2, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Hundreds of gas stations must have access to generators and be able to quickly get the pumps, freezers and credit card machines running after a hurricane under legislation Gov. Jeb Bush signed Thursday.

The bill was designed to ease one of the most vexing hurricane aftermath problems: an inability for people to get around because they can't get gas at stations with no power. The measure was one of several hurricane preparedness bills the governor signed at the state emergency operations center on the first day of the new hurricane season. Many of the requirements, however, won't go fully into effect until 2007.

The gas station measure requires that owners with 10 or more stations in a county have a generator available and be able to move it to where it is needed. The more stations the owner has, the more generators the owner will need to have ready to put in place after a hurricane.

The bill also puts millions of dollars into upgrades for hurricane shelters, including providing for generators at special needs shelters.

"I think we now can safely say we are a model in the country in how to take care of vulnerable citizens," Bush said.

He also approved legislation earmarking money for upgrading local emergency operations centers, and requiring planners to come up with ways to shelter people who want to evacuate with their pets.

The legislation also creates space for nearly 150,000 more people in public shelters.

Other bills Bush signed included one to extend the state's building code to an area in the Panhandle that had been exempt and called for the upgrading of storm surge models to better evaluate who needs to be evacuated along the coast and when.

The generator bill (HB 7121) also puts new requirements on new gas stations, those that undergo major renovations and those near interstates and along major evacuation routes. They must have wiring that makes it easy to switch to generator power and be capable of quickly getting alternate power going to pump gasoline and run other equipment - although they're not required to buy a generator and house it at each station.

The measure sets aside $52.8-million for putting generators in special-needs shelters starting this year and $15-million for expanding and retrofitting shelters for the general population. It also earmarks $45-million for upgrading county emergency operations centers.

The legislation passed earlier this year following two devastating years in which Florida was hit by eight hurricanes and the nation watched much of the Gulf Coast paralyzed after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi.

Jim Smith, president of the Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, which represents mostly small gas stations, said station owners weren't thrilled that some would now be required to have generators available. But he said many were already getting them on their own anyway because it's good business.

"We hate the idea of government mandates, particularly unfunded government mandates, but we understand the emotional volatility of the issue, and we were already doing it anyhow," Smith said.

AT A GLANCE

Legislation signed into law Thursday by Gov. Jeb Bush includes millions in spending for hurricane preparedness. Among the items:

* $52.8-million to put permanent generators in some special needs evacuation shelters

* $45-million to build and strengthen county emergency operations centers

* $29-million for technology to update flood models to improve evacuation plans

* $15-million to expand shelter capacity

* $4.3-million for public awareness campaign to encourage Floridians to be better prepared to deal with hurricanes

* $82.9-million to restore housing and infrastructure in areas hardest hit by 2005 hurricanes

Associated Press

[Last modified June 2, 2006, 05:56:44]