Trump administration waives summer gasoline regulations to ease fuel prices
Trump administration to temporarily lift gasoline regulations in summer price at the pump nearly $4 a gallon amid the Iran war.
The emergency fuel exemption allows refiners and retailers to sell E15 gasoline, blended with 15% ethanol, during the summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Wednesday.
Restrictions on the sale of E10 gasoline, which contains 10% ethanol, will also be temporarily lifted, according to the agency. Normally, federal rules require switching to more expensive summer blends from June 1 to September 15 because the gas with higher ethanol content can evaporate more easily in hot weather, contributing to air pollution.
The exemptions take effect on May 1 and will be in effect until May 20.
“EPA is working with our federal partners to reduce unnecessary costs and uncertainty and ensure gas prices remain affordable for all Americans throughout the summer,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “This emergency action will provide relief to American families by increasing fuel supplies and consumer choice.”
The waiver marks the latest effort by the White House to curb rising gas prices resulting from the war in Iran, which has effectively closed the critical Strait of Hormuz and cut global oil supplydriving up energy prices.
The Trump administration has taken other steps to try to control prices by stimulating supplyincluding ordering the release of 173 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, waiving the Jones Act to allow foreign ships to transport fuel between U.S. ports, lifting Russian oil sanctions and other measures.
Last week, the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization, called on governments, businesses and consumers to reduce their energy use by driving less and taking other steps to relieve demand.
The EPA said it would monitor fuel supplies and was prepared to extend emergency fuel waivers “as long as the circumstances of the fuel supply warrant such action.”
