Gas prices are sitting around $4.10 a gallon nationally, California drivers are staring at nearly $5.60, and now the Trump administration is reaching for a regulatory lever it says can get more gasoline onto the market quickly.
The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing a temporary emergency fuel waiver that takes effect Sept. 1, according to information provided to Breitbart News. Working with the Department of Energy, the EPA will temporarily loosen summertime fuel requirements in an effort to increase domestic gasoline supplies by hundreds of thousands of barrels per day.
Here’s the thing: This gets technical very quickly, but the basic idea is not complicated.
The waiver concerns E10, gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol, and something called Reid Vapor Pressure, or RVP. That measurement deals with how readily gasoline evaporates. Higher-RVP fuel evaporates more easily, which can result in greater emissions during hot weather.
For that reason, federal rules generally impose tighter RVP restrictions during the summer. When colder weather arrives, the rules loosen because greater fuel volatility can help with cold-weather engine starts.
What the EPA is doing is effectively moving that seasonal change forward.
Instead of waiting until Sept. 15 for the summer control season to end, the administration will allow the higher-RVP E10 beginning Sept. 1. The emergency waiver lasts through Sept. 15, at which point the ordinary seasonal requirements begin loosening anyway.
Why bother with two weeks?
Supply.
Administration officials calculate that the temporary waiver could put hundreds of thousands of additional barrels of gasoline per day onto the domestic market. Their expectation is that more supply will help push prices downward.
And those prices are getting plenty of attention.
According to AAA, the current national average is approximately $4.10 per gallon. One year ago, it was roughly $3.13.
That is a difference motorists can see every time the numbers start spinning on the pump.
The West Coast is getting hit particularly hard. California’s average is approaching $5.60 per gallon, meaning an ordinary fill-up can turn into a substantial expense before the driver has even left the station.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the waiver is part of President Donald Trump’s effort to address those costs.
“President Trump has prioritized ensuring American families have affordable gasoline and energy,” Zeldin said in a statement to Breitbart News. “Throughout this administration, EPA has taken decisive action like issuing RVP waivers to provide relief at the pump and fortify our gasoline supply chain.”
“Today, we continue this work with our federal partners to increase supply and lower gas prices for all Americans,” he continued. “Across the administration, we will continue to execute President Trump’s agenda and provide Americans with a prosperous and affordable nation.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright made the administration’s argument even more simply.
“Increasing the supply of gasoline means lower prices for American families,” Wright said.
That’s the theory being put to work here: loosen a seasonal restriction two weeks early, make more gasoline available and let that additional supply work its way through the market.
Wright described the joint action as the administration “using every available tool to cut red tape, increase the supply of gasoline, and lower prices at the pump.”
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are advancing commonsense policies that prioritize energy addition and put the American people first,” he added.
Now, nobody should expect every gas station in America to flip its price sign the moment Sept. 1 arrives. Gasoline prices depend on crude oil costs, refining conditions, regional inventories, taxes, distribution and plenty of other moving pieces.
But the administration is targeting one factor it can influence directly: how much gasoline can legally be sold during the final stretch of the summer fuel season.
