The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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Before he became CEO of the New York Heating Oil Association (NYOHA) in August, Rocco Lacertosa worked in the heating oil busi- ness for nearly 50 years. "I started in 1966 as a kid who knew nothing, and came up through the retail ranks, driving a truck and doing ser- vice and so on—the same way as John did," he said, referring to John Maniscalco, his prede- cessor as head of the association. "For this particular role it's very important," Lacertosa said of his deep roots in the business, "because my main concern—and I know it was John's—is representing dealer members. It's important because I can speak their language. I know what the issues are that they face on a day-to-day basis." This past summer Lacertosa was at NYOHA as CEO-elect, working side-by-side with Maniscalco, preparing. Lacertosa said Maniscalco was "point - ing me in the right direction, showing me where the landmines are," helping him settle in and introducing him to "the people I had to meet." Asked about the association's priorities, Lacertosa said, "I fully intend to continue carry- ing the biodiesel, Bioheat torch. It's important for the industry. We have the 2% mandate and now New York City is looking at 5%." As of this writing, that proposal—a bill that would require B5 heating oil throughout the city— was expected to be the subject of September hearings, "at which I'll probably be testifying," Lacertosa said. "The other thing that's at the top of my mind is education." NYOHA is working with the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island and the National Oilheat Research Alliance to establish a training facility in Plainview, N.Y. (on Long Island). "We are pursu - ing an agenda to make more training available for technicians, fuel people and inside people," Lacertosa said. "We're using NORA money to do this, and NORA is participating." The facility will include a lab, a classroom and an office, and the associations will make it available to manufac - turers who wish to offer training, he said. Asked when the facility is expected to open, Lacertosa said, "We're looking at November." When he started out in the fuel oil indus- try, Lacertosa spent time in all of the various departments of the family-owned business, including dispatch and credit, eventually overseeing all the day-to -day operations until the company was sold in 1988, according to a summary of his career that was included in a NYOHA press release announcing Lacertosa's appointment as CEO of the association. He stayed with the business for another two years before leaving to establish his own company, Alpha Fuel Oil, which he sold to Hart Petroleum in 1994. For the next four and a half years he was general manager for Hart Petroleum, w h e r e h e w a s i n s t r u m e n t a l i n d e v e l o p - ing systems and procedures. Lacertosa was recruited in 1999 to run a $25 million dollar division of a Reading, Pa., company. In addition he held senior level positions with Kaufman Fuel and Paraco Gas until he was recruited to Blue Diamond Fuel; that company was sold to Approved Oil of Brooklyn in 2011 and Lacertosa was kept on to run Blue Diamond as a separate division. Lacertosa's last position before going to NYOHA was vice president of operations for Approved Oil. Lacertosa holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Adelphi University in Garden City New York and an MBA from De Sales University in Center Valley Pennsylvania. On the advertising front the goal is "making positive impressions about the product and about the oil companies" in comparison to the competition, "which in New York City is basically natural gas," Maniscalco pointed out. "Heating oil has always been perceived to be a dirty product," but that has changed, he said. Under his tenure the association partici- pated in a successful push for fuel oil with a sulfur level of 15 ppm in New York State. It is the lowest low-sulfur fuel of any state, he said. In New York City, the association succeeded in establishing a requirement that each gallon of heating oil contain 2% biofuel. The bio portion is usually an agricultural blend of soybean oil. "So now we call it Bioheat," Maniscalco said. He called it "the cleanest heating oil in the entire nation." A New York City councilman has proposed that the city go further, to B5, and Maniscalco said a hearing on the proposal was scheduled for September. The outlook for adoption is favorable, he said. Economic trends are working in the fuel oil industry's favor, he noted. "With the oil prices collapsing, so to speak, now we're going to have some parity with the natural gas industry as far as economics go." The natural gas industry "always had us on emissions as well," Maniscalco said, "but now, with the introduction of ultra-low and the biodiesel, we're almost even with them on emissions. Between being as clean and green as natural gas and the pricing coming together I think the oil industry is being re-invented." Maniscalco said that in retirement, "I am going to get to know my bride of 43 years again." He added. "She's retiring in October." Domestic and international travel are on the agenda. Two of the Maniscalcos' four grown offspring reside in New York and two are "out of state," he said, "and we have a grandson. So we're going to doing a lot of traveling in-country as well as going to Europe." And he plans to give back to his community, possibly through The Rotary Club, with which he was active before. 36 OCTOBER 2015 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com BUSINESS OPERATIONS l F O N NYOHA's New Leader: Rocco J. Lacertosa Jr. Rocco J. Lacertosa Jr