pumpjpg-a2d01aa1a85c2486.jpg

Commuting columnist Joseph Rose pumps his own gas at a Vancouver filling station. Remarkably, he didn't blow himself up or endanger any small children.

(Joseph Rose/The Oregonian 2012)

Oregon's unusual, 64-year-old ban on motorists pumping their own gas may soon be lifted in the state's most remote areas.

The Oregon House has unanimously passed a bill that would allow station in counties with fewer than 40,000 residents to keep self-pay pumps turned on when no owner, operator or employee is around to dispense gasoline.

Co-sponsor Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, said there are scores of towns in the loneliest corners of the state where gas stations close after dark because they can't afford the staff to stay open around the clock.

"If you're a tourist going into the outback of our state without a full tank of gas," Ferrioli said, "you better be prepared to sleep in your car, because it's going to be tough to find a gas station that's open after a certain hour."

Oregon and New Jersey are the only remaining "Pump For Me" states, prohibiting self-service gasoline.

Back in 1951, when Oregon first mandated that only trained station workers could put "Class 1 flammable liquids" into cars, the state mainly didn't want people accidentally blowing things up.

But despite big safety advances in pump and auto technology, Oregon voters and legislators have resisted changing things. In fact, the statute contains 17 justifications for the self-serve ban. They run the gamut from protecting small children left in cars to preventing spills to keeping older drivers from "unreasonable discomfort."

The new bill would apply to more than half Oregon's counties, including most communities along the coast and the Columbia Gorge.

However, Ferrioli, who is pushing HB 3011 in the Senate, said drivers in other parts of the state shouldn't expect the self-service ban to be overturned statewide anytime soon. As much as he likes the idea, the senator said the political appetite for a complete repeal doesn't exist.

"This isn't an end run around the existing statute," Ferrioli said,

"or the people who are convinced that pumping your own gas is a threat to our safety, peace and well-being."

Oregon drivers, some economists estimate, pay an extra 3 to 5 cents more per gallon because stations must employ about 9,800 attendants. Ultimately, they say, businesses and consumers as a whole have less money and time to create even better jobs.

Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, the chief sponsor of the bill, said several people drove hours from far-flung burgs around the state to testify in favor of the bill. Many told stories of drivers being forced to sleep in their cars or being stranded in an emergency because they couldn't purchase gas in small towns such as Burns Junction and Fields late at night.

The bill doesn't require stations to be closed for customers to pump self-service gas. "The owner can be inside, helping other customers while someone pumps their own gas," Bentz said. "Crazy, huh? It's much like other spots that allow this strange behavior -- like 48 other states."

Want to know more about why Oregonians can't pump their own petrol? Read my 2012 column on the subject.

And this is probably as good a time as any to revisit the hilarious "Daily Show" report on the dangers of self-service gas:

The Daily Show

Daily Show Full Episodes, More Daily Show Videos, Comedy Central Full Episodes

-- Joseph Rose

503-221-8029

jrose@oregonian.com

@josephjrose