GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- All but one fuel terminal in Nebraska was low or completely out of diesel fuel late last week, according to a report by the Grand Island Independent.
It's virtually every terminal across the state, Tim Keigher, executive director of the Nebraska Petroleum Marketers Association, told the newspaper.
While the outages haven't yet hit most neighborhood gas stations, at least one truckstop was reported to be rationing diesel due to the outages at terminals. The Flying J in North Platte is only letting truckers [image-nocss] have 75 gallonsenough to get across the state, trucker Sheldon Tobler told the paper.
Fuel terminals in Doniphan, Lincoln, North Platte and Columbus were completely out of premium diesel, according to data Thursday from the Nebraska Energy Office.
The Doniphan terminal, which serves about a 70-mile radius of Central Nebraska, was also completely out of No. 2 grade diesel, the report said. Terminals in Norfolk and Osceola were out of premium and had low supplies of No. 2 grade diesel. The terminal in Geneva was receiving about 25 loads daily and so allocating out portions of diesel fuel.
Only the ConocoPhillips terminal in Omaha had adequate supplies, the report added.
Tobler said fuel-hauling trucks are in line about eight to 10 hours in Omaha just to get a single load. Because of the time it's taking just to get fuel in tankers at the terminal, Keigher sent a letter to Governor Dave Heineman last week asking the state to temporarily waive regulations that restrict truckers to a set number of hours on duty.
We are trying to figure out if we have the authority to do what they ask, said Aaron Sanderford, a spokesperson for Heineman. Sanderford said a similar waiver was enacted shortly after last year's hurricanes, but that was allowed because a presidential disaster declaration was in place. No such presidential declaration exists now.
Unless the diesel shortage is more of a multi-state regional problem, Sanderford said, it simply may not by legally possible to allow truckers additional time on the job. But the problem may soon grow bigger than Nebraska. Data from the Nebraska Energy Office showed that neighboring states of Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Missouri were also out of diesel or had a very short supply.
The driving force behind the fuel shortage is a shutdown at southern refineries in order to convert equipment and pipelines for a new ultra-low-sulfur diesel mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be in place by October 1, Keigher said.
Tobler said although summer routinely is a time for terminals to convert storage tanks from higher-sulfur to lower-sulfur fuel contents, the conversion now under way is far more extensive. Diesel fuel used to have a sulfur content of 3,000 parts per million. A few years ago, that sulfur level changed to 500 ppmthe same level found in regular unleaded gasoline. The new regulation that takes effect this fall calls for diesel fuel to have just 10 ppm of sulfur, Tobler said.
Ultra-low-sulfur diesel is in short supply, he said, because refineries needed to clean out equipment, pipelines and storage tanks of all residue from the old diesel. The shutdown for cleanup and conversion, Tobler said, came with no notice and may take some time.
The Nebraska Energy Office reported the Magellan Pipeline terminal in Doniphan may have diesel as early as Friday, although officials there said they don't expect fuel until next week. The Valero Pipeline terminals in North Platte and Norfolk are expected to receive a diesel shipment August 15, according to Nebraska Energy Office data. Columbus isn't expecting a shipment until August 20 and Osceola not until August 25.
The situation will have an impact on anybody who uses diesel fuel, Keigher said. Along with truckers, the clients of truckers are also diesel fuel users. Many of those clients in the summertime are farmers with diesel-run irrigation pumps, Keigher said.
It's going to affect everybody in the state and everybody coming through the state, Tobler said. Everybody is limping along.
We're not to the point we would call it an outage, but it is inching close to a shortage, Sanderford told the paper, adding that farming organizations have also contacted the governor's office with concern about diesel availability to irrigators. Sanderford said state officials are monitoring the fuel situation It's a serious issue we're paying attention to, he said.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.