POLITICO
EPA, DOT move to boost gasoline availability after Colonial Pipeline cyberattack
The Biden administration is waiving pollution rules and may grant an exception to a law barring foreign ships from transporting goods between U.S. ports.
Gas prices are seen Monday at a Sunoco station in Pottsville, Pa. | Jacqueline Dormer/Republican-Herald via AP
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The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation announced separate actions Tuesday to make more gasoline available for sale on the East Coast, in hopes of averting fuel shortages as the Colonial Pipeline remains almost entirely shuttered by last week s cyberattack.
The steps included an EPA fuel waiver issued Tuesday morning allowing retailers in D.C. and parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia to sell dirtier-burning gasoline than ozone pollution regulations would normally allow. It expanded the waiver Tuesday night to add all or part of nine additional states, including Alaba
UpdatedTue, May 11, 2021 at 5:05 pm ET
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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon to address gasoline supply disruptions across the state due to a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline. (Alejandro Guzmani/Shutterstock)
VIRGINIA/DC Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon to address gasoline supply disruptions across the state due to a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline.
Last Friday, the Colonial Pipeline system, which is the primary fuel source for many Virginia retailers, reported a ransomware cyberattack that resulted in a temporary shutdown.
Northam s emergency declaration allows state agencies to issue environmental waivers in order to limit the fuel shortages. Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its own Clean Air Act waiver for parts of Virginia and Washington, D.C., along with other areas in the Mid-Atlantic region, to help alleviate fuel shortages due to the cyb
LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) EPA asked a federal court Friday to vacate three small-refinery exemptions (SRE) the outgoing Trump administration granted on Jan. 19, just days before the Biden administration was to take office.
In a motion filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver, the agency said it did not follow proper procedure when on Jan. 19 it granted the exemptions to Sinclair Wyoming Refining Company and Sinclair Casper Refining Company from their 2018 and 2019 obligations in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
In particular, the agency said its action, https://www.dtnpf.com/…, did not take into account case law established by the 10th Circuit in January 2020. The court ruled the EPA illegally granted exemptions to three refiners in 2017 and 2018 although they did not qualify.
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