Registration is now open for MOC’s annual golf event at the beautiful Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth. This year’s golf outing is set for Monday, August 17, 2009, and you can register your foursome today by downloading our official 2009 registration brochure by accessing the link below. The official brochure has also been mailed to all MOC members and industry supporters.

As in the past, the event features golfing on the award winning Nicklaus course at Pinehills Golf Club, a cocktail hour and dinner reception. MOC will also showcase its outstanding raffle during the dinner hour. This year, through the generosity of radio media outlets that have partnered with MOC to air the Council’s advertising, there will be a number of outstanding raffle gifts including Red Sox tickets, concert tickets and restaurant gift certificates.

Also this year, MOC welcomes lead event sponsor, Idearc Media, official publisher of the Verizon Yellow Pages, Superpages.com, Superpages Direct Mail and the Super Guarantee.

MOC also welcomes Advanced Fuel Solutions, Braley & Wellington Insurance Agency, Energi/Conifer Insurance, Global Petroleum, Gulf Oil and the National Biodiesel Board as our first Championship sponsors this year. Please consider a Championship sponsorship or making a gift donation for MOC’s gift bags or raffle. All of our Championship sponsors will receive recognition once a commitment has been made to MOC.

Click here for a copy of the registration form.

MOC helped lead the way for recent passage of a new state law that improves older heating oil systems, and helps protect homes and the environment. The law requires that residential property owners with heating oil tanks that have unprotected fuel supply/return line(s) in direct contact with a floor surface to either enclose the line with a continuous non-metallic sleeve, or install an oil safety valve on the fuel line.

The law also requires insurance companies statewide to offer homeowners the opportunity to purchase additional pollution insurance coverage. The insurance is not mandatory, but residential property owners must be in compliance with one of the fuel line upgrade options, regardless of whether or not they plan to purchase insurance coverage. Read the new law. For Oilheat retailers, use this letter to your customer.

Three recent natural gas explosions have raised concerns about gas line safety and gas leaks. Most recently, a woman was killed on February 19th when her Somerset home exploded following reports of a strong gas odor in the area. On January 25, a home in Gloucester was leveled from an explosion apparently caused by a gas leak. The homeowner was hospitalized with severe burns. And last December in Scituate, a man was killed when a gas explosion destroyed his home. Twenty nearby homes were also damaged. All three explosions are under investigation by the State Fire Marshal.

Click here to read the story in the Boston Globe.

MOC and the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) have launched a statewide radio campaign aimed at telling consumers about the advantages of new, highly efficient Oilheat systems; and the biofuel mandate in Massachusetts.

MOC was instrumental in helping to pass state legislation last year that mandates the use of cleaner-burning biofuel blends for home heating oil by July 2010. This will help improve the environment and reduce petroleum statewide use. Follow these links to read the legislation An Act Relative to Clean Energy Fuels and to learn more about the sustainability of biofuels – food & fuel. And for consumers and retail fuel dealers, visit the bioheatonline links on the left.