Oregon Gas Pumping Law

Overview

Oregon Gas Pumping Law refers to a controversial law passed in May 2017 which would allow certain counties in the state of Oregon to allow motorists to fill their own gas tanks at filling stations, deviating from a 1951 ban on self-service. Online, the law was hotly debated, with proponents of the ban citing safety concerns and job creation while others mocked the self-serve prohibition as overly restrictive.

Background

In 1951, the state of Oregon passed a law banning self-service at gas stations. In May 2017, the Oregon Legislature passed a law allowing counties with more than 40,000 residents to deviate from the filling station attendant requirement, which would go into effect in January 2018.

Developments

Online Reaction

On December 29th, 2017, the KTVL CBS 10 News Facebook page published a post asking readers "Do you think Oregon should allow self-serve gas stations statewide?", which gathered more than 61,000 shares, 53,000 comments and 35,000 reactions over the next week (shown below).

On January 2nd, 2018, the internet humor site Memebase^[3] published a listicle of social media reactions to the law. The following day, conservative comedian Steven Crowder published a listicle titled "The Top 10 Hilarious Reactions to Oregon's 'Pump Your Own Gas' Law."^[5] On January 4th, Redditor a167818 submitted a post asking "What's going on with Oregon and gas pumps?" to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[2] That day, Redditor Aneome5 submitted an image macro of a woman pumping her gas, sarcastically referring to the controversy as the "Oregon Gas Pumping Crisis" (shown below).^[4]

Meanwhile, Redditor LePontif11 posted an animated GIF of people spraying gasoline titled "MRW I now have to pump my own gas in Oregon" (shown below). Within four hours, the post gained over 19,300 points (94% upvoted) and 1,100 comments. Also on January 4th, Redditor sergeydgr8 submitted a KTLA news article with the headline "Some Oregonians in Panic Mode After Law Allowing Motorists to Pump Their Own Gas Takes Effect" to the /r/nottheonion^[6] subreddit, where it accumulated upwards of 30,000 points (91% upvoted) and 6,000 comments over the next 10 hours.

Search Interest

External References