USDOT Responding to Colonial Pipeline Disruption

Excerpt:

• The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is “canvassing rail operators to determine their capacity to help transport fuel from ports inland and if there are additional steps FRA could do to help them increase capacity to do this. They are also engaging industry to identify trends indicating capacity pressures.”

• USDOT has started the work needed to enable consideration of a “temporary and targeted waiver of the Jones Act.” The Jones Act, a section of the 1920 Merchant Marine Act, “requires merchandise being transported by water between U.S. points, even by way of foreign ports, to be shipped aboard vessels that are 1) U.S.-built 2) U.S.-citizen owned and 3) registered in the U.S.,” according to the Maritime Administration (MARAD).

• The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is “taking steps to create more flexibility for motor carriers and drivers.” On May 9, it issued a temporary hours-of-service exemption that applies to those transporting gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined petroleum products to the District of Columbia and 18 states

• FMCSA and the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) are tracking states that have issued emergency declarations—such as Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia—which have included weight waivers for trucks on state roadways. Those departments are working with “the full list of potentially effected states to share information and best practices and try to harmonize and align their efforts.”

• The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) assisted in Colonial Pipeline’s efforts to get Line 4 up and running May 10 “on a manual basis and is continuing to support efforts to ensure safe movement of fuels manually, while concurrent efforts to restore the system’s operation continues.”

Later in the article, the pipeline describes its work of partially restarting as well as a waiver to allow Winter Blend fuels to continue to be transported. One of the challenges being faced is that reserves were already low as refineries were switching from winter to summer blend gasolines.

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