Hotshot Connect Forum :: Illinois Mulling Federal Help on Gas Supply

Rose

Illinois Mulling Federal Help on Gas Supply

Fuel marketers in Illinois are considering requesting federal help to ease a gasoline supply crunch that has pushed the state's pump prices to the highest in the nation, Reuters said.

The Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association said last week it has informed the U.S. Environmental Petroleum Agency that gasoline inventories are tight around East St. Louis and the crunch could worsen heading into July, Reuters said.

"We have not requested any assistance yet, but we are closely monitoring the situation," said IPMA director William Fleischli.

He said the association could request a waiver from the EPA that would allow suppliers to sell lower-grade gasoline in East St. Louis after July 1, when tougher environmental regulations requiring the use of reformulated anti-smog gasoline hit, according to Reuters.

Pump prices in Illinois averaged $3.34 per gallon last week, about 28 cents above the nationwide average and the highest for any U.S. state, according AAA's daily survey, Reuters reported.

Supplies of gasoline in the Midwest have been drained by a series of regional refinery outages, Reuters said. L&MT

Tom Cobb · Site Admin

That local environmental rules is what has helped create the supply problem. It should be one standard for all states and cities instead of each little kingdom setting their own rules.

bth9461

The refiners should refuse to make the different blends. Offer one blend and let the pumps go dry. I bet the states would get on board with a single blend standard real quick. They would be changing there standards real quick. The states have a right to make their own standards, but the refiners have the right to not produce it. This could be changed if someone had some backbone and stood up to the States.

Brian

Tom Cobb · Site Admin

I think the EPA and the feds have to step in in this case to stop the various blends. In a way that is what they did by getting rid of the MTBE or whatever it was and using ethanol for emissions reduction in the major cities in TX and other places. We now have regular gas with no more than 10% ethanol.

Have you noticed how gas prices have been coming down but diesel has remained steady for the past 2 or 3 months. I wish someone would explain that one to me.