Beginning June 1, the majority of local fuel oil dealers and delivery companies in and around Tamaqua will have to travel up to two-and-a-half hours longer to fill their delivery trucks.

All fuel delivery companies who use the Sunoco Logistics fuel terminal, which is located on Taggertsville Road/Tuscarora Park Road (bottom of Hometown Hill) in Tamaqua, received communication Thursday from Sunoco Inc. on the closure date.The communication provided a list of alternative depots, including Northumberland and Fullerton for heating oil; Fullerton for kerosene; and Northumberland, Fullerton, Montello and Kingston for diesel fuel.For over 20 years, there have been rumors about closing the Tamaqua terminal but most fuel oil dealers never thought it would happen due to the high amount of fuel transports using the facility.A majority of fuel oil companies in the region are serviced by the Tamaqua terminal. Companies must now deal with added travel fuel cost, time on the road, man-power, time waiting in already congested terminal lines and wear and tear on their trucks.The longer driving distances can also increase the chance of driver fatigue.Fuel oil dealers also realize that they will have no choice but to raise fuel costs to cover these expenses."The closure of the Tamaqua Sunoco terminal will drive the price of fuel oil up throughout the region," said Greg Tirpak, owner of Tirpak Oil in Tamaqua.He said his average fuel delivery truck gets approximately four to six miles per gallon and driving to Allentown and back might add 100 miles or $100 for the trip.Fuel oil dealers feel the increases could range from 5 to 20 cents a gallon, depending on the truck and distance from the nearest fill center.Tirpak said that his normal single refilling time of 30 minutes will be raised to a minimum of over two hours when the terminal closes. The nearest refill terminal for many fuel oil dealers with be the Fullerton Terminal, located in Whitehall.When asked why the Tamaqua terminal was closed, Tom Golembeski, a spokesperson for Sunoco Inc. said it "didn't do a lot of business" and lacked biodiesel."I don't understand where they came up with that," Tirpak said. "There was always a lot of loading going on at the Tamaqua terminal."He recalled there were numerous times when the terminal ran out of fuel.Many local fuel oil dealers and delivery companies view the closing as a slap in the face to the community."Why did they give us only three months to prepare for this?" asked Tirpak.Some local fuel dealers have their own storage tanks and won't be affected as much as those who do not have them. Fuel dealers closest to Tamaqua will probably feel the loss a little more than dealers located farther away.Surrounding fuel dealers, as far away as Hazleton, Nesquehoning, Lehighton and Pottsville are expected to be inconvenienced in one way or another.Jeff Reigel, of Reigel Fuel Oil LLC, in Tamaqua, feels this year's mild winter has had an impact."If they are basing their actions on this, I hope they aren't going by this year's sales, as the warmer winter resulted in lower sales everywhere, not just in our area," Reigel said.He added that the companies don't realize the economic impact their decision put on local dealers, the community and thousands of customers."What is it going to cost the customer now?" he asked. "We probably won't know until mid June."Reigel feels it's an example of how big business is running out small business operations."Big companies don't care and the government is not doing enough to help small business," said Reigel.Still, he said the Tamaqua Sunoco facility was a very busy terminal."On a busy day, I was at the Tamaqua Sunoco terminal three or four times a day," he said. "I won't be able to do that now."