{"id":770699,"date":"2026-07-18T18:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/770699\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T18:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:44:12","slug":"epa-waives-restrictions-on-using-high-sulfur-diesel-on-the-north-slope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/770699\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA waives restrictions on using high-sulfur diesel on the North Slope"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a temporary waiver<\/a> Friday under the Clean Air Act for using diesel with higher sulfur levels above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. In a letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the 20-day waiver was meant to address fuel supply disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is in the public interest to take action to address the extreme and unusual supply circumstances that prevent distribution of an adequate supply,\u201d Zeldin wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n

The Clean Air Act requires the use of cleaner burning ultra-low-sulfur fuel in highway and non-road vehicles and equipment. The fuel produces fewer emissions and does not damage modern engines.<\/p>\n

Zeldin said much of the equipment used above the Arctic Circle still has engines designed for high-sulfur diesel. He said that some North Slope topping refineries, which separate diesel from crude oil and produce heating oil, can produce high-sulfur diesel to power that machinery, which could reduce the demand for diesel hauled into the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlaskans will no longer be forced to unnecessarily truck their fuel hundreds of miles across the state, and Alaskan families will feel lower prices at the pump,\u201d Zeldin said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

Fuel prices began to rise again earlier this month after the collapse of the ceasefire with Iran, with NPR reporting<\/a> that prices were 86 cents higher per gallon than they were before the war. A new U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> means prices could climb even higher.<\/p>\n

Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit said during a roundtable in Anchorage that the waiver will allow for the production of tens of thousands more barrels of diesel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese topping units that have been restricted from an emission standpoint can now run at a higher output capacity,\u201d Haustveit said. \u201cIt’s going to bring more supply to market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Dan Sullivan applauded the waiver and said he had advocated for it to lower fuel prices. He said in a press release that the action will allow North Slope producers to put idle refining capacity to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal fuel supply disruptions have been a significant challenge for Alaska communities, resulting in rising fuel prices,\u201d Sen. Sullivan said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

He said he measure \u201cfrees up Alaska-produced fuel to help put downward pressure on prices for hard-working Alaskans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The waiver is limited to highway and non-road vehicles and non-road equipment certified to operate on high-sulfur diesel fuel. It applies only above the Arctic Circle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Environmental Protection Agency issued a temporary waiver Friday under the Clean Air Act for using diesel with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-770699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}