News Releases from Headquarters›Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA)

EPA Approves Emergency Fuel Waiver for Louisiana

WASHINGTON -- Following Hurricane Harvey’s landfall, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has approved an emergency fuel waiver for areas of Louisiana affected by the storm.

EPA has waived the requirement for low Reid vapor pressure (RVP) gasoline for the 16 parishes in the state where low-RVP fuel is required to be sold during the summer ozone season.  The waiver will allow the use of higher-RVP gasoline to be sold in these parishes through September 15.  

The waiver authority was exercised under the Clean Air Act and was granted by EPA Administrator Pruitt, in coordination with the U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, at the request of Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Chuck Carr Brown, on behalf of Governor John Bel Edwards.

As required by law, EPA and the Department of Energy (DOE) evaluated the situation and determined that granting a short-term waiver was consistent with the public interest.  EPA and DOE are continuing to actively monitor the fuel supply situation as a result of Hurricane Harvey, and will act expeditiously if extreme and unusual supply circumstances exist in other areas of the state.

To mitigate any impacts on air quality the Clean Air Act provides strict criteria for when fuel waivers may be granted, and requires that waivers be limited as much as possible in terms of their geographic scope and duration.

More information: www.epa.gov/enforcement/fuel-waivers