EPA Lifts RVP Ban in MN Following Supply Disruption

  • Friday, 01 September 2017 09:28

The EPA has lifted the summertime RVP ban on E15 sales for Minnesota as well as 37 other states and Washington D.C. due to fuel supply disruptions from the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.

In a statement Aug 31, the EPA said administrator, Scott Pruitt, exercised the agency's emergency fuel waiver authority "to help ensure an adequate supply of fuel throughout the country."

The RVP was set to end on Sept 15. Through this waiver, the ban ends two weeks earlier. 

According to the EPA, it has waived requirements for reformulated gasoline and low volatility conventional gasoline through Sept 15 in the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersery, New York, Pennsylvannia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virgina, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. 

The waiver supercedes an earlier waiver by the EPA on Aug 30 which lifted the RVP ban in 12 states in response to fuel supply disruptions following the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.

Several Gulf-area refineries have shut down while pipelines have been disrupted due to damage from Hurricane Harvey. These disruptions in supply have led to higher gas prices in recent days. 

Pruitt sent a letter on the waiver to Gov. Mark Dayton and the governors of the other 37 states as well as the mayor of Washington, D.C.

"The waiver authority was exercised under the Clean Air Act and was granted by EPA Administrator Pruitt, in coordination with the US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry," the EPA said. 

The full statement by the EPA can be found here.

Minnesota currently has 156 E15 stations located throughout the state which can be found here.

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