Gas on the go harder to find


Willette and George Hoffman, with new tanks and pumps at Dering Harbor Marina.

Suffolk County regulations for underground fuel storage tanks,effective this year, are forcing local marinas to choose betweenmajor, expensive upgrades or eliminating the convenience of readilyavailable fuel to their customers. The cost of the new, mandatorydouble-walled fiberglass fuel tanks, monitoring systems andinstallation, also strictly regulated, turns such an upgrade into ahuge investment that can take many years to recoup. Selling fuel isnot, by itself, a high profit business for a marina. But theavailability of fuel is an important convenience to boaters andmarinas want to be able to offer it as part of a complete menu ofservices.

Here on the Island, Piccozzi’s Dering Harbor Marina seems to befurthest ahead of the curve, having replaced both gas and dieselunderground tanks several years ago. George Hoffmann explained thatthe new double-walled tanks have built-in alarm systems to detectleaks and monitor how much fuel goes into the tanks when filling toprevent overflows. Piccozzi’s and other marinas must also reconcilehow much they sell with how much is left in the tanks on a regularbasis and keep those records available for inspection by thecounty.

John Needham at Coecles Harbor says he will have diesel fuelavailable for the season start, since that tank is above ground,but maybe not gas, since that tank is affected by the new rules.Coecles Harbor installed new underground single-walled tanks in themid-80s, approved at the time by the Suffolk County Department ofHealth. But shortly thereafter, the department said all such tankshad to be replaced by 2010. Needham agrees that, expensive thoughit may be, “protecting the aquifer is paramount, so Coecles Harborwill try to be in a position to offer both gas and diesel thisseason. If that’s not possible, the marina will notify its regularcustomers ahead of time.

At the Island Boatyard, General Manager James Brantuck says he’salready begun replacing his tanks and both diesel and gas will bepumping by Memorial Day weekend. Brantuck also pointed out thatsince the marina only pumps fuel two months out of the year,weather permitting, recouping the investment will take a long time.But he says, “We decided we want to provide for our customers. Thepermits are in, construction has already begun, and we’re excitedabout it.

On the mainland, there are rumors that Claudio’s will be gettingout of the fuel business altogether, but we were unable to reachanyone there to comment. Townsend Marina, which used to offer gasonly, will not offer either gas or diesel this year, says ownerScott Gonzalez.

Jesse Gaffga, at Brewer’s Yacht Yard in Greenport, said theyhave their permits in place and work has begun to install new tanksthere. Gaffga says the goal is to have everything up and running intime for this season.