Biden administration issues second shipping waiver amid fuel shortages

The Biden administration issued a second waiver Thursday evening that will make it easier to ship gasoline to the East Coast as shortages persist despite the Colonial Pipeline being back online.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas allowed for a “temporary and targeted” waiver for a second company, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said in a statement late Thursday.

“This decision was made after careful consideration and consultation with interagency partners across the federal government as part of the whole-of-government response President Biden directed to address the impacts of the Colonial Pipeline shut down,” the spokesperson said.

The move came a day after the first waiver was issued late Wednesday. DHS did not name either of the two companies receiving a waiver. The Hill has reached out for comment.

The waivers allow exceptions to the Jones Act, which typically requires products that are shipped between U.S. ports be transported by American vessels.

Following the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline last week, many Southeast states began to see fuel shortages, though analysts linked the bulk of the shortfalls to panic-buying by consumers.

As of Friday at 8 a.m. ET, 87 percent of Washington, D.C., gas stations, 69 percent of North Carolina stations, 51 percent of stations in South Carolina and Virginia and 49 percent of Georgia stations were out of fuel, according to tracking by GasBuddy, which crowdsources data from app users.

The Colonial Pipeline resumed operations on Wednesday evening.