County receives extension of summer gas exemption

Allegheny County has received an extension on a temporary exemption from the summer gasoline requirement as the county continues to seek permanent removal from the program.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a second temporary waiver to Allegheny County Wednesday because damage to the Buckeye Laurel Pipeline has made it difficult to get the summer fuel in the area. The summer blend became a requirement 20 years ago because it created less air pollution.

The new waiver extends the county’s exemption to July 1 and allows suppliers to purchase regular gas in the Ohio or Altoona areas and sell it in Allegheny County.

The county had previously been denied a permanent waiver to stop using the summer blend while the EPA reviews its request to join Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties, which were removed from the program earlier this

year.

As a result, gasoline in those counties is about 4 cents a gallon cheaper than in Allegheny County today, and the difference could jump as high as 50 cents a gallon over the summer, according to the Pennsylvania Petroleum Association based in Harrisburg.

The waiver allows stations that receive regular gasoline prior to July 1 to sell it until it runs out.

Since it removed neighboring counties from the program for the same reason — cleaner-burning car engines in recent years have all but eliminated the difference in the amount of pollution from summer and non-summer blend gasoline — it would “just be stupid” to require Allegheny County to remain in the program, said Don Bowers, a petroleum association vice president and an executive with Countywide Petroleum.