EPA Addresses Florida Fuel Supply Emergency Caused by Idalia

In a release posted on its website on Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that EPA Administrator Michael Regan issued an emergency fuel waiver “to address a fuel supply emergency in Florida caused by Hurricane Idalia”.

The release highlighted that storm preparations resulted in the closure of multiple ports in the state that receive fuel and restricted and interrupted fuel terminal operations, “preventing an adequate supply of gasoline”. In addition, evacuations, including mandatory evacuations, are straining available supplies, the release noted. Waiving federal requirements to sell summer gasoline can help address these supply shortages, according to the release.

“The EPA and the Department of Energy (DOE) have been actively monitoring the supply of fuel,” the EPA said in the release.

“The EPA has concluded, with DOE’s concurrence, that it is necessary to waive federal requirements to sell summer gasoline to minimize or prevent the disruption of an adequate supply of gasoline to consumers throughout Florida,” it added.

“This waiver only applies to the federal fuel standards. Regulated parties must continue to comply with any applicable state or local requirements, or restrictions related to this matter, unless waived by the appropriate authorities,” it continued.

The waiver is effective August 30, 2023, and will continue through September 15, 2023, the release revealed.

Federal Clean Air Act regulations require fuel refiners, importers, distributors, resellers, terminal owners and operators, and carriers to switch from selling higher volatility winter gasoline to lower volatility summer gasoline during the summer months to limit the formation of ozone pollution, the EPA release noted.

To mitigate any impacts on air quality, the Clean Air Act provides strict criteria for when fuel waivers may be granted to help ensure minimal, if any, short term impacts on air quality, including limiting waivers as much as possible in terms of their geographic scope and duration, the release stated.

In a report posted on its website on Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted that Hurricane Idalia was impacting U.S. Gulf Coast production and pipeline facilities.

The EIA warned in the report that hurricane induced facility closures can have uncertain effects on the retail price of gasoline, adding that the scale of the impact relates to the duration and severity of the closures.

A statement posted on the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) website at 7.45am EDT on August 30 highlighted that the “extremely dangerous Category 3 Hurricane Idalia” had made landfall in the Florida Big Bend.

“Data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that Idalia’s maximum sustained winds were near 125 miles per hour,” the statement noted.

At the time of writing, the NHC site is tracking Idalia as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour.

As of 5am EDT on August 30, the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour, the NHC site showed. As of 4am EDT on August 30, the hurricane’s maximum sustained winds were 125 miles per hour, as of 2am EDT on August 30, Idalia’s maximum sustained winds were 120 miles per hour, and as of 11pm EDT on August 29, its maximum sustained winds were 110 miles per hour, the site outlined.

Florida is the second largest producer of electricity after Texas, and natural gas fueled about 74 percent of Florida’s total electricity net generation in 2021, according to EIA data last updated in January 2023.

Field production of crude oil in the state was at 2,000 barrels per day in May 2023, the EIA site showed. This stood at 8,000 barrels per day in May 2004, 39,000 barrels per day in May 1984, and 116,000 barrels per day in January 1981, which is where the EIA data on Florida field production of crude oil stretches back to.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com