Pumping gas

California may have its Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Ohio gets all those new high-paying computer chip manufacturing jobs for Intel. Washington state may have no income tax. But here in Oregon we don’t have to pump our own gas.

Those aren’t fair comparisons. We are not of a mind to be fair, hearing that once again a bill to let Oregonians pump their own gas is dead.

We get it if you don’t want to pump your own. If you appreciate the bond Oregon has with the only other no self-service state, New Jersey, so be it. If you worry about people who would find pumping their own difficult, if you worry about safety, if you want another opportunity for jobs in Oregon, those are all real concerns.

But remember the bill as it was written, House Bill 4151, would not have removed the requirement to have attendants ready to pump gas. It would have made it optional for people who want to pump their own gas.

Is that so bad? We don’t think so.

The undoing of HB 4151 was the need for some $543,000 for the Oregon Fire Marshal to regulate consumer pumping. Time became too short to come up with that in this session.

We think the fire marshal may need even more money, if we understand the concerns. The worries about people pumping their own transfer to people plugging in their own electric cars, right? Especially those higher voltage charging ports.

In the 2023 Legislature shouldn’t there be a bill to require Oregonians to be assisted with a paid professional when plugging in their electric vehicles?

We can’t claim it as our idea. It would, though, create jobs. It would be very helpful to those for whom such effort can be difficult. It would be safer. And just because Oregon would be the only state to make this requirement, shouldn’t be a reason to stop us. Maybe New Jersey would join in.