[ad_1]
President Biden this morning authorized the Department of Energy to deploy the Strategic Oil Reserve if it determines that the emergency stockpile could help alleviate gasoline and oil shortages in Louisiana following Hurricane Ida.
Biden said this afternoon he asked Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm “to use all the tools at her disposal, including the use of the Strategic Oil Reserve, to keep the gas going. ‘power the pumps’.
The EPA also approved emergency waivers for Louisiana and Mississippi to expand gasoline supply in those states, Biden noted. The transportation department will review the number of hours truck drivers can drive, the president said, and take action to speed up deliveries of fuel, medical supplies and food.
“These actions should help reduce the risk of gas shortages and price hikes in the wake of the hurricane,” the president said during an appearance at the White House.
The action follows pressure from Louisiana Representative Garret Graves, a senior Republican on the Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, who called on the administration to do more to alleviate gasoline shortages in his state in the wake of the devastating hurricane Ida.
Graves asked the EPA and DOE yesterday in a letter to help storm-hit refiners. Specifically, he asked the DOE to release additional crude from the country’s strategic oil reserve. Graves has asked the EPA to waive regulatory requirements for the renewable fuels standard.
“The people of Louisiana are literally in the dark without electricity, or they rely on scarce fuel reserves to power backup generators,” Graves wrote.
The DOE did not respond if it plans to release any crude oil from the SPR. The EPA said the agency had issued an emergency fuel waiver that raised Reid’s vapor pressure standards for gasoline. The aim was to help refiners access “the fuel supply available to them to address acute shortage issues,” spokesman Nick Conger said in an email.
“The RFS compliance obligations themselves for these refineries are not due until March 31, 2022 and the Agency will consider the issue raised by Congressman Graves along with other waiver petitions to the Agency,” a- he added.
Graves told a news conference in Louisiana yesterday that residents saw queues of nearly an hour at the gas station. “We just had a conference call with the White House, with the Department of Energy, with the fuel producers, the refiners – all of them – to figure out where the barriers are, what the barriers are,” Graves said. to journalists.
“Louisiana refines as much oil and gas as virtually any other state in the United States, which is a good thing because it means it’s close, but it’s a bad thing because it means those refiners are also affected, ”Graves added. “We have a plan to get them back online as quickly as possible. “
The region’s energy leaders met with Biden earlier this week as the White House to discuss restoring electricity for some 1 million people without electricity and revitalizing power generation.
Biden “pledged the full weight of the federal government to provide resources where they are needed” at the meeting, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said yesterday.
Infrastructure legislation
Biden plans to travel to Louisiana tomorrow to see the damage from the hurricane, the White House said yesterday. Today, he said infrastructure legislation is a way to tackle climate change and other storm-related ills.
But Graves told E&E News yesterday that he plans to oppose the bipartisan bill unless the White House drops proposals in its Army Corps of Engineers’ 2022 budget request that would cut funding to the profit from fossil fuels (Green wire, September 1).
“If the White House wants to backtrack on its imaginary criteria of how it is doing [distribute funds], and if they give up their stupid criteria for the Corps of Engineers, yes, I will vote yes, ”Graves said. “Until then, I’m against stupid.
Graved also tweeted: “Just a week ago we said the Corps’ planned budget threatened to fund flood protection and worsen flooding in our communities. A few days later, Ida made landfall. . “
The 2022 White House tax request included a cut in spending for the military corps, but lawmakers are set to increase the agency’s budget (Daily E&E, July 12).
Graves also criticized Democrats today for maintaining a markup on the reconciliation plan in the natural resources committee as it dealt with the fallout from Hurricane Ida.
“We don’t have water… we don’t have electricity, and in fact we have active search and rescue operations going on as we speak,” Graves said, applying virtual beaconing. from somewhere outside of Louisiana looking for an Internet. signal. “The fact that I’m even sitting here with you spending time with all of you is ridiculous. “
Expense allocations
Graves and the Louisiana delegation received several requests for trust funding for Army Corps projects in the southern state in the Energy-Water spending bill for fiscal year 2022, which was approved by the House this summer.
Graves, along with House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Representative Clay Higgins (R-La.), Won $ 19.33 million for the Army Corps to complete the engineering and design phase of the valve is la Morganza to the Gulf Project, a major flood protection effort.
The $ 19.33 million for the effort is the amount sought for the project by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) In the Senate version of the spending bill. It was backed by the Senate Appropriations Committee this summer.
Higgins got a total of $ 12.5 million for four separate claims he made for the Army Corps’ southwest Louisiana coast hurricane protection projects. Cassidy was awarded $ 10 million for similar work in the Senate bill.
Reporters Geof Koss, Hannah Northey, George Cahlink and Emma Dumain contributed.
[ad_2]
Source link