The U.S. Department of Energy will create the nation's first federal regional gasoline reserves — one near Boston and another near New York Harbor — to hedge against fuel supply disruptions such as those experienced after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Each location will store 500,000 barrels of gasoline to complement the 1-million-barrel Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve that was tapped for the first time in the wake of Sandy.
"This reserve is a step toward preventing another Sandy situation with regard to fuel," Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. "This is part of a broader commitment to a more secure and resilient energy infrastructure."
The federal government plans to acquire the gas and store it at leased commercial terminals by late summer — in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season that runs from June 1 through Nov. 30 — at a cost of about $200 million.
"Like sandbags and stockpiles of food and medicine, this gasoline reserve is what the Northeast needs to be ready for supercharged storms from climate change," Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts), who joined Moniz and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) in making the announcement yesterday, said in a statement.
Sandy heavily damaged two refineries and forced the closure of 40-plus terminals in New York Harbor, leaving some New York gas stations without fuel for up to 30 days.
The reserves are probably long overdue, said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester.
"Compared to the strategic petroleum reserve on the Gulf Coast, it's a small thing, and it's not meant to somehow make our gasoline cheaper, but to deal with short-term logistical problems" he said.
It's possible that reserves also will be established in other parts of the country, according to Lynch.
"New England is kind of the farthest away from our oil supply and there's long been agitation about that," he said.
The state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said the move would improve the region's "energy resiliency."
"As we work to prepare for and mitigate the impacts of climate change, it will be important to have a source of gasoline stored nearby to ensure we have an uninterrupted fuel supply," spokeswoman Krista Selmi said.
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