Fire-stricken fuel refinery serving Michigan expected to restart by middle of week
LANSING, Mich. — An Indiana fuel refinery, that shut down last week after a fire, is expected to be running again by the middle of this week, experts said.
Drivers likely won't see an impact on gas prices directly due to a fire at a major regional refinery in Whiting, Indiana that forced the plant to temporarily go offline, Michigan Petroleum Association president Mark Griffin said.
While gas prices are as low as it's been for months in most of Michigan, drivers had a scare over the last week as one of the largest refineries in the Midwest experienced a fire that BP said caused the plant to temporarily shut down.
A fire at the BP Whiting Refinery, located near the northern border of Indiana and Illinois, prompted the U.S. Department of Transportation to declare a regional energy emergency for Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a distinction that allows the four states to become exempt from certain federal regulations.
Over the weekend, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order that lifted certain environmental protections, particularly by allowing the state to move to its "winter gas" instead of the so-called "summer gas" it is distributing now.
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Summer gas is meant to burn cleaner during the hotter, more humid months, helping cities to avoid severe smog and other air quality concerns.
“The winter fuel doesn’t need that because when the air is colder and the air is not as filled with humidity as it is in the summer," Griffin said . "It will burn cleaner in the winter months.”
Michigan has been adjusting to seasonal fuel since May, Griffin said, but the state continues to have a large inventory of summer fuel available.
Environmental restrictions stop Michigan from formally switching to winter gas until Sep. 15, with Whitmer's order bringing the change forward by a few weeks.
As for how moving the timeline forward impacts Michigan's air, Griffin claims the environmental effect will "be zero."
"There won't be any effect," Griffin said. "This is more a concern about making sure that we have enough gasoline that we can keep everybody moving."
Whitmer's order also lifts limitations on the hours that drivers can be on the road while carrying gas or diesel fuel.
Griffin described it as a precautionary step, but one that should help Michigan avoid any impacts of the refinery shutdown.
“There’s not a problem today in terms of fuel supply, but we want to make sure as they’re working to bring this refinery back up to speed – and these are very complicated factories, for lack of a better way to describe it, and you don’t just flip a switch and turn it back on,” he said.
A gas station owner in Lansing said Monday he had no concerns about the station getting access to gas or prices going up.
The governor's executive order is expected to remain in place until impacts of the refinery fire are over, or until it expires on Sep. 15.
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