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August 16, 2023
Power At the Gas Pump!
Oregon lets
drivers fuel
their own cars
AP-For the first time in 72
years, Oregon motorists can grab
a fuel nozzle and pump gas into
their cars on their own, since a
decades-old ban on self-serve gas
stations has been revoked. Gov.
Tina Kotek signed a bill on Friday
allowing people across the state to
choose between having an atten-
dant pump gas or doing it them-
selves. The law takes immediate
effect. “It’s about time. It’s long
overdue,” said Karen Cooper, who
lives in Salem, said shortly before
the bill was signed. “I’ve spent a
lot of time in California,” Coo-
per said. “I know how to pump
my own. Everybody should know
how to pump their own gas.”
Kacy Willson, 32, who has
lived in Oregon her whole life,
said she doesn’t have much inter-
est in pumping her own gas. She’s
only tried it a few times in her life.
“It’s kind of nice to have someone
do that,” she said at a Portland
gas station Friday. “I don’t real-
AP photo credit courtesy of Claire Rush
ly leave Oregon very much, and
when I do, I have to ask some-
one how to pump gas, and I feel
weird.” When Oregon prohibited
self-service in 1951, lawmakers
cited safety concerns, including
motorists slipping on the slick sur-
faces at filling stations subject to
Oregon’s notoriously rainy weather.
A union representing workers at
grocery store fuel stations in Ore-
gon predicted job losses and called
the the law a “blatant cash grab for
large corporations.” “With over
2,000 gas stations in Oregon, lay-
ing off just one employee per loca-
tion represents millions of dollars
a year that giant corporations are
not paying in wages, benefits and
public payroll taxes,” said Sandy
Humphrey, the secretary-treasurer
of UFCW Local 555.
Under the new law, there can’t
be more self-service pumps at a
gas station than full-service ones.
And prices for motorists must be
the same at both types. Still, op-
ponents of the measure worry
that it could lead to the demise of
full-service pumps, depriving old-
er adults and people with disabili-
ties of that option.
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