Today the Environmental Quality Commission approved the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s recommendation to grant program variances for fossil fuel suppliers that import fuels into Oregon outside the pipeline and terminal systems while fuel is not able to be brought into the state in the Olympic pipeline. The variances are a proactive measure to support continual fuel delivery through alternative methods in Oregon if the Olympic Pipeline closure continues.
The variances are in effect Nov. 24, 2025 until Monday, Dec. 1 at 11:59 p.m. If the variances need to be adjusted, the commission delegated that authority to DEQ Director Leah Feldon.
Fossil fuel suppliers will have no later than 45 days after the end of the variance to report any additional volumes of fossil fuels imported by truck or rail and directly delivered to gas stations, fleets, and truck stops due to the closure.
The Clean Fuels Program variance waives the program’s requirements in two ways.
- For fossil fuel suppliers that are not currently subject to the program, the variance temporarily increases the program’s threshold for regulation from a half million gallons of imports to five million gallons.
- For fuel suppliers that are currently subject to the program, imports that are trucked in and directly delivered to gas stations, fleets, and truck stops are exempt for the duration of the outage.
The Climate Protection Program variance waives the program’s requirements in two ways.
- For fossil fuels suppliers currently regulated by the program, greenhouse gas emissions from fuels imported by truck or rail and directly delivered to gas stations, fleets, and truck stops during the variance timeframe would be considered exempt or not covered. There would be no compliance obligations for these emissions.
- For fossil fuel suppliers not currently regulated by the program, fuels brought in during the variance timeframe would be removed from thresholds that trigger program applicability.
Source: Oregon DEQ