Pricier summer gas still required in Allegheny

Drivers in six of seven southwestern Pennsylvania counties will finally be able to buy the same type of summer gasoline that is sold in Ohio, West Virginia and nearly all of Pennsylvania under a long-awaited rule change scheduled to take effect in mid-August.

But not those in Allegheny County. At least, not just yet.

The two-decade-old mandate that required regional gas stations to sell a boutique blend of gasoline as a way of curbing smog pollution each summer will remain in effect for Allegheny County, including Pittsburgh — for this season anyway. The Allegheny County Health Department still needs to revise its air quality rules.

State and local regulators backed off the mandate in April, saying they wouldn’t enforce the summer blend rule throughout southwestern Pennsylvania while they were waiting for federal regulators to sign off on the change.

Most drivers would not have seen any difference because many fuel suppliers were afraid to make the switch. They were concerned about the potential for federal fines or third-party lawsuits in the interim.

June-through-mid-September standard that is in place at gas stations in most of the country this time of year.

The more common fuel blend is cheaper. The state Department of Environmental Protection said the rule change may save consumers in the affected counties between 1.6 and 9.2 cents per gallon, depending on whether lower costs are passed on to drivers.

That gas is also somewhat dirtier, although the DEP said the benefits of the lowRVP fuel blend have diminished now that most cars feature better technology for trapping vapors. Emissions reductions from other industries will more than offset the added pollution, the DEP said. county board of health in

The stricter, 7.8 psi summer September to be sent out for blend requirement will public comment. linger longer in Allegheny “The expectation is to County, which has its own have the regulation in place air pollution control agency by next summer’s gas season,” in the Allegheny County he said. Health Department and Once the county adopts amends its rules separately. the change, it will be sent to

Although the 2014 state the DEP for a brief review law that directed the DEP to and then submitted to the rescind the regional rule did EPA for final approval, DEP not apply to Allegheny spokesman Neil Shader County’s regulations, the said. health department says in a About 352 million gallons proposal that it “intends to of low-RVP gasoline is sold follow suit” and that the rule at gas stations in the seven change will have “no adverse affected counties during the impact on the health of summer months, the DEP the citizens of this county.” estimated for 2016.

Health department Donald Bowers, senior spokesman Ryan Scarpino vice president at Countywide said the department intends Petroleum, a McCandlessto bring its proposal to thebased fuel distributor, said oil companies will continue to have to ship and store 7.8 psi gasoline for Allegheny County alone, a “ridiculous” situation that could lead to locally higher prices and gasoline shortages.

“It is just a supply hassle,” he said. “It is something that really screws up the whole chain.”

The disparity will last about a month, since retailers switch to a winter gasoline blend starting Sept. 15.