NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency effective Friday over a potential propane shortage for home and commercial heating after a service disruption at a major plant in Pennsylvania.
Some 186,000 New Jersey residents rely on propane for heating, the governor’s office said in a statement, and the emergency order comes as temperatures continue to fall well below freezing in the region.
Crucially, it waives hours-of-service regulations for trucking heating fuels.
The potential shortage comes as Energy Transfer’s Marcus Hook Terminal in Pennsylvania is unable to pump propane from its storage caverns after a November electrical fault.
The issue, stemming from a Nov. 19 electrical incident in a transformer, disabled the facilities propane truck loading rack for three days and led Energy Transfer to declare force majeure, according to a statement from the National Propane Gas Association.
Customers have been placed on allocation and are receiving 70% of their allocated loads, the association said. The terminal is loading propane onto trucks directly from its pipeline causing wait times to increase.
Energy Transfer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation also waived hours-of-service regulations for bulk propane transport effective this week.
The National Propane Gas Association says it is in talks with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a regional waiver “given the impact on the Mid-Atlantic and New England and the uncertain timing of repair,” a statement said. Hours-of-service waivers for truckers are a common response to local fuel supply issues.
The waivers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are due to the Marcus Hook disruption and not a shortage of propane, said Pennsylvania Propane Gas Association Executive Director Shelby Bell.
“Energy Transfer is waiting on equipment/parts, and their operations teams is working hard to try and minimize limitations beyond December, Bell said. A firm date on resumption is not yet clear, Bell added.
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