President Donald Trump‘s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an emergency fuel waiver to allow an early shift to winter blends of gasoline in a bid to decrease fuel costs amid ongoing tensions with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.
EPA Allows Winter Blend Release With 10% Ethanol
In an official statement released on Thursday, the EPA said that it was authorizing the early release of “E10, gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol,” starting on September 1st, which would help lower prices at the pump.
“This action will increase the domestic gasoline supply by hundreds of thousands of barrels per day by effectively ending the summer-blend gasoline requirement early,” the EPA said.
Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright hailed the move in the statement, saying that it was an “example of this Administration using every available tool to cut red tape, increase the supply of gasoline, and lower prices at the pump,” while EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that “President Trump has prioritized ensuring American families have affordable gasoline and energy.”
Summer and Winter blends of gas are separated by the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP), which illustrates how easily fuel could evaporate in higher temperatures. Winter gasoline generally has a higher RVP and can contain more volatile components such as butane, which help gasoline vaporize in colder temperatures.
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Summer blends have a lower RVP as temperatures rise and refiners use more expensive additives that help reduce pollution and smog, as well as yield better fuel economy. However, the flip side of this move is that gas becomes pricier during summer.
GasBuddy Analyst Patrick De Haan Says Move Will Bring Relief
Following the announcement, GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan took to the social media platform X to share his take on the move.
“Moving this up only helps gasoline prices,” he said, adding that winter blends could bring down prices by up to 25 cents per gallon. De Haan then said that the “largest cities that use most stringent blends” will “see the larger side” of the price benefit. “The change is ~3 weeks early,” he added.
Fuel Prices Remain High
According to the data collected by the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average price of gas on Thursday surged to $4.1044/gallon, with states like California paying $5.5885/gallon on average.
Diesel prices in the U.S. also remained high as the diesel crack spread, which illustrates the refiners’ profit margins for refining crude oil into diesel, had earlier reached $102/bbl.
AAA data showed that the national average price of diesel on Thursday was $5.5477/gallon, higher than Wednesday’s $5.5042/gallon average. The price of a gallon of diesel in California surged to $7.0388 on Thursday, according to AAA data.
Gavin Newsom Slams Trump
California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Trump over high gas prices, saying that “the Strait of Hormuz” was “still closed and Americans have been forced to pay $86 BILLION more for fuel.”
Meanwhile, Wright touted increased oil production in the Permian Basin, Texas, saying that high fuel costs were also because of the previous President Joe Biden administration’s clean energy policies.
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