The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Thursday approved a request from Florida Governor Rick Scott for an emergency fuel waiver to ensure enough diesel fuel across the state for ongoing response efforts to Hurricane Irma, EPA announced in a release.
The Agency has waived the highway diesel fuel red dye requirements to allow the use of 15 parts per million
sulfur non-road diesel fuel for on-highway vehicles in Florida, effective through October 6, 2017. Diesel fuel distributed under this waiver may not be introduced into terminal storage tanks from which
diesel is dispensed into trucks for distribution to retail outlets after that date.
In the U.S., the EPA mandates use of a red dye to identify high-sulfur fuels for off-road use. Detection of red-dyed fuel in the fuel system of cars and other vehicles brings significant penalties.
The waiver authority was exercised under the Clean Air Act and granted by Pruitt, along with the U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.
EPA said in its release that they and the Department of Energy "evaluated the situation and determined that granting a short-term waiver was consistent with the public interest."
The
EPA and the DOE are "actively" monitoring the fuel supply situation as a result of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
More information: www.epa.gov/enforcement/fuel-waivers.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons Images
