US weighs waiving smog rules on petrol to lower pump price

The White House is planning to waive some guidelines that aim at reducing summertime smog, Reuters reported on Tuesday quoting unnamed sources in the administration.

The move, if approved, will help US refiners and blenders avoid the ban on lower-cost components such as butane in summer petrol and eventually lead to lower fuel costs.

Last month, US governors from eight major corn-producing Midwest states asked the Biden administration to apply rules that would allow petrol blended with a higher level of ethanol to be sold year-round in their states.

Governors from Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota said in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency last month that allowing the blend, known as E15, throughout the year would help lower petrol prices, which have risen to on average by $4 per gallon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Following their submission, the administration lifted the ban on E15 and allowed it year-round.

Components such as butane and ethanol increase petrol’s Reid vapour pressure, or RVP, which contributes to smog at higher levels, particularly in the hot summer months.

Ten US states and the District of Columbia are already paying more than $5 a gallon, with California's statewide average surging to more than $6 a gallon, according to official data.

Under normal circumstances, US retailers must sell summer-blend petrol from June 1 to September 15 under the Clean Air Act's 1990 amendments. In the past, the U.S. government has waived those requirements regionally or nationally to deal with hurricanes or other supply issues.