This is … odd …
Tom KirkmanIndependent Project Manager
This is … odd …
A regional emergency declared by federal and state governments over an oil refinery fire.
/ Update – looks like it was caused by an electrical fire in a control panel:
“The fire incident affected utilities to multiple units at the refinery.
Restarting the impacted units could begin promptly if the fire damage is restricted to a control panel, with a return to normal operations expected as soon as early next week.”
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“The Department of Transportation declared a regional emergency Saturday affecting four Midwest states after a fire earlier this week caused an “unanticipated shutdown” of a BP oil refinery in Indiana.
BP Whiting, the sixth largest refinery in the U.S. refining over 400,000 barrels of oil per day, shut down to undergo damage assessment after a fire knocked out the plant’s electrical power and cooling water systems on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The shutdown caused the federal government to take action and address the looming shortage of fuel output that will affect Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, states that collectively receive up to 25% of their fuel from the Whiting refinery.
“This Declaration addresses the emergency conditions creating a need for immediate transportation of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel and provides necessary relief,” the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said in a statement.
The emergency declaration gives states an exemption from some federal regulations, such as waiving U.S. truck driver rules that dictate maximum driving times. However, when truckers return to normal operations after providing emergency assistance, they will be required to take a 10-hour break if they exceed 14 hours in emergency relief, according to FMCSA.
Sources told Reuters that the refinery’s restart date remained unknown as all of its units would have to be checked for damage and possibly repaired.
… Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) responded to the refinery’s shutdown by issuing an executive order that lifts some requirements for fuel transporters and “temporarily suspends certain laws and regulations to accelerate the transition to the fall fuel supply and takes advantage of existing stocks of fuel, contingent on the Environmental Protection Agency making similar changes.” …
