June 03, 2016
Friday, June 3, 2016
LANSING, Mich. – Gov. Rick Snyder today issued Executive Order 2016-12, extending a State of Energy Emergency in Michigan due to the shutdown of a fuel pipeline in Wisconsin and the need to rebuild inventories following the unexpected outage of the Marathon refinery in Detroit. The order will allow those transporting fuel to spend more hours on the road to ensure fuels are available.
The extension is for 7 days for the entire state, to allow the Marathon refinery to be able to supply all customers again following a successful restart. The extension for the Upper Peninsula and Cheboygan County is until June 22.
“We are still receiving reports of concerns over the availability of petroleum,” Snyder said. “This extension will help ensure that our gas stations can continue to serve people on their way to work, school, or to enjoy a Pure Michigan vacation.”
The executive order suspends state and federal regulations related to hours-of-service for motor carriers and drivers transporting all transportation fuels within Michigan, enabling these individuals to exceed the number of hours and consecutive days in which they can operate a commercial motor vehicle in Michigan and any other state they must drive through to get needed supplies. It does not waive any environmental rules or alter commercial arrangements.
“While thankfully the Marathon refinery outage is a short-term problem, and to our knowledge no gas station in the state has had to close due to a lack of gasoline, we remain concerned,” said Valerie Brader, executive director of the Michigan Agency for Energy. “We have reports of much longer transport times and struggles securing supply in both Cheboygan, which receives much of its petroleum by barge from Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula. We believe this extension should let us keep the supplies flowing to these areas.”
Brader and her agency work with a variety of state agencies, including the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Michigan State Police, to make recommendations regarding the declaration of energy emergencies.
Motor carriers or drivers currently subject to an out-of-service order, in which operations are prohibited, are not eligible for the exemption and suspension until the out-of-service order expires or the conditions for rescission have been satisfied. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Michigan State Police require that drivers for motor carriers operating under the Declaration of Energy Emergency have a copy of the declaration in their possession. It is available at www.michigan.gov/snyder.
EO 2016-12 is effective immediately and remains in effect until it is rescinded or until 11:59 p.m. June 22, 2016, whichever first occurs.
The full text of EO 2016-12 is available for download here. The initial emergency declaration, Executive Order 2016-10, was issued May 24, 2016.
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