Government Affairs Brief

Chairman of the Security Subcommittee, Jerry Jerdine, Ergon, led a discussion on small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS).

Next, the committee heard from a panel of invited speakers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The panel focused on physical security, cybersecurity, and terminal resiliency. The panel’s speakers were Tim Donnelly, CISA Region 1 Chief of Protective Security; Daniel King, Chief of Cybersecurity, CISA Region 1; and, Daniel McElhinney, Federal Preparedness Coordinator and National Preparedness Division Director, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), FEMA Region 1. The panel held a robust discussion of physical security, including how Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) are being re-evaluated as a threat vector to terminal physical security. The panel also discussed possible cybersecurity impacts. FEMA discussed resiliency and how terminal facilities can be prepared for business interruptions.

The Environment Subcommittee hosted a conversation about the ILTA submitted Gasoline Distribution Rule Comments. The discussion was led by Terri Holloman, Magellan, Bill Lee, CITGO, Svend Brandt-Erichsen with Nossaman LLP and Rob Ferry with Trinity Consultants. The panel discussed ILTA’s submitted comments to EPA and provided a recap of the main points of the ILTA technical comments to EPA’s proposed rule. The panel also discussed some technical nuances in EPA’s proposed rule.

In April 2022, eight Midwest Governors requested that EPA promulgate regulations allowing for e-15 blended fuel. Specifically, the coalition of Midwest States is seeking a long-term solution to the issue of increasing the percentage of ethanol blended into fuels for the upcoming ozone control season and beyond.

ILTA and its member companies are dedicated to providing safe, sustainable, efficient, and reliable storage and logistics services for bulk liquids. In July 2021, our Board of Directors adopted our organization’s first Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles. One of these principles affirms our industry’s commitment to continually reviewing new technologies and procedures that might improve emissions monitoring and yield emissions reductions. 

ILTA has put this pledge into action by engaging with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a technology review of gasoline distribution equipment and facilities, focused on emissions on hazardous air pollutants. Since EPA initiated this technology review and rulemaking in Spring 2021, ILTA and its members have been in dialogue with EPA officials, providing detailed information about the proper operations of gasoline storage tanks and loading facilities.  

In September, ILTA weighed-in with the White House to express ILTA’s members’ concerns about a nationwide freight rail strike. Given the ILTA membership’s reliance on freight rail to move customers’ products and to ensure deliveries, the pending nationwide strike by rail workers.