May 15, 2011

(Washington, D.C.) — Western Pennsylvania's Congressional delegation announced this evening that it would continue urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend a requirement that gasoline distributors begin selling a "summer" blend of fuel despite shortages affecting local stations.

The EPA announced on Friday that it would not grant Pennsylvania's request for a waiver that would have allowed gasoline terminals in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties to continue selling a winter blend of gasoline through the end of the month to mitigate supply shortages caused by a recent outage at a New Jersey refinery and a since-repaired leak in the Buckeye pipeline that connects the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh markets.

The members of the delegation, Congressmen Jason Altmire, Mark Critz, Mike Doyle, and Tim Murphy, released the following statement:

"Rising gas prices are already causing pain at the pump for Pennsylvania's families. While disappointed in today's decision by the EPA, we urge the agency to monitor on a moment-by-moment basis the supplies in Western Pennsylvania and react swiftly should the situation deteriorate. We will work together to do all that we can to ensure this issue is resolved quickly."