ALBANY — The U.S. Department of Transportation is taking action to help with the fuel crisis in Georgia by extending the hours-of-service requirements for fuel carriers in the Southern portion of the United States, a news release from Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Moultrie, said.
“We know that Georgia is sharing a burden experienced by many other southeastern states right now due to refining operations being drastically cut in the Houston area and the Colonial Pipeline running at less than full capacity,” a statement issued by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Atlanta, said.
The exemption will allow more quantities of fuel to be carried to gas stations in Georgia. An exemption was already in place because of hurricanes Gustav and Ike, but was was set to expire last Saturday. The waiver announced Friday extends the emergency exemption to Oct. 8.
“This gas shortage came upon us after hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit the Gulf and the refineries shut down. The pipelines coming from those refineries were not able to operate anywhere near full capacity, particularly the Colonial Pipeline that supplies gas to the Atlanta area,” a statement by Chambliss said. “In addition, there’s a 45-county area around Atlanta that is required to have a special blend of gasoline than the rest of the state, and this requirement was exacerbating the supply issue because the appropriate blend was not readily available.”
The statement from Chambliss also mentions a fire at a large refinery in Pasadena, Texas, last week that resulted in the facility being shut, further limiting Georgia’s supply.
“It is absolutely necessary that we utilize every option to provide relief to our constituents during this time,” Chambliss said. “In addition, temporarily allowing fuel carriers to continue operating is another measure that can be taken to make gasoline available until supplies can be replenished. We are doing everything we can at the federal government level to get a steady supply of fuel to Georgia.”
This exemption acts essentially as an emergency declaration, which may be issued by the president, a governor or the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
“The agency was in contact with the states’ governor’s offices, where we learned that shortages of fuel were prevalent. In order to restore supply levels and provide communities with the ability to conduct normal transportation activities, we issued a 10-day extension to the original regional declaration,” FMCSA Administrator John H. Hill said. “People need to know they can drive to work, school and obtain groceries without spending 3-4 hours waiting to purchase fuel.”
Basically, this means the extension should allow fuel supplies to remain sufficient for the next 10 days so that circumstances can eventually return to normal.
“The information FMCSA has indicates that fuel supplies should be sufficient in 10 days to allow companies to resume normal operations. This is a short-term solution to a short-term problem with fuel supplies that were interrupted due to Hurricane Ike,” Hill said.
The exemption affects 49 CFR parts 390-399 of the FMCSA safety regulations, including hours of service, and is in place for Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Generally, this kind of exemption can be enacted when any emergency interrupts the delivery of certain services. It is not that uncommon for this to happen during hurricane season.
“Emergency declarations can be enacted for any emergency that interrupts the delivery of essential services or supplies. This does occasionally occur as a result of major storms or earthquakes,” Hill said. “Often such emergencies are local and declarations are made by a governor or local entity. In this instance, a regional declaration was made to provide continuity across several affected states.”
The waiver was granted Sept. 23 after Chambliss and Isakson sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency in support of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s request to temporarily extend relief from federally enforceable sulfur gasoline requirements.
In addition to that, Sens. Chambliss and Isakson wrote to distributors supplying gasoline in Georgia, particularly the metro-Atlanta area, and urged them to do everything they can to get a steady supply back to Georgia as soon as possible.
