Meeting regulations costly for gas stations

— -- Charlie Thomas is worried that he may be forced to shut down his Satellite Beach, Fla., gas station in part because a state law requires all stations to install tanks to pump gas with at least 10% ethanol by year's end.

A combination of environmental rules, mandatory equipment replacement, the down economy, increased competition from big-box stores and rising credit-card fees is putting the squeeze on independent gas station owners such as Thomas. "I don't know what the future is going to bring me," says Thomas, who has owned and operated his gas station and repair shop for 20 years.

For about a month, Thomas had no gas to sell. His pumps sat idle, draped in yellow "crime scene" tape to keep customers away as he searched for a supplier who could sell him the non-ethanol gas his current tanks hold.

Thomas, 49, says he lost about half his business when his pumps were down, even though customers slowly returned once he could sell gas again.

If he can't come up with $200,000 to replace his 40-year-old storage tanks with double-lined tanks for ethanol-added fuel, he'll be out of the gas business, he says.

"It is a very tough business to be in," says Brandon Wright, spokesman for the 8,000-member Petroleum Marketers Association of America.

Scott Dennis, who runs a lawn care business in Satellite Beach, says it would be a shame to lose a neighborhood fixture such as Thomas' station to environmental regulations and the economy.

"I guess we all have got to conform, make the best of a bad situation," Dennis says.

'Rules never get easier'

James Patneau Jr. owns four independent gas stations in Medina, Ohio. He says he has seen many of his fellow gas station owners file for bankruptcy.

"It is tough dealing with the federal and state government," Patneau says of the regulations.

"The bottom line is there is a progression that the rules never get easier, they only get tougher," he says. "These guys are going to walk away from these locations."