The federal government is standing ready to help New England with fuel supply and grid reliability this winter, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the region’s governors in a recent letter.

Granholm’s letter came in response to the states’ request for help, in which they asked the Biden administration to consider a waiver of the Jones Act for LNG deliveries, proposed a new energy reserve system for the region and asked for coordination ahead of what could be a difficult winter. (See New England Governors Ask Feds for Help with Winter Reliability.)

At the Department of Energy “and across the Biden administration, we recognize that the New England states face unique energy challenges, and your letter raises important areas for continued coordination and new collaboration with the administration,” Granholm wrote.

She said DOE is monitoring prices and inventory levels of natural gas, gasoline and distillates, and that she has been meeting with domestic producers and refiners to talk about their inventories and preparedness for storms.

On the East Coast, inventories are 20% below the seasonal five-year average for gasoline and 47% below the seasonal five-year average for distillates. In New England, diesel inventories are 63% below their five-year average.

“These data points raise concerns about the impact of any physical disruption of supply and require that both states and the federal government are prepared to use all the tools in our toolkit to improve preparedness and respond if needed,” Granholm wrote.

But while she offered general assurances that the federal government is on the case, she didn’t directly agree to any of the governors’ specific asks.

Granholm noted that requests to waive the Jones Act, which requires that ships hauling cargo between U.S. ports be built in the U.S., are handled by the Department of Homeland Security, and that the department would “expeditiously consider” individual waiver requests that come in. The governors had asked for a broader suspension of the Jones Act for winter LNG deliveries.

She also said that DOE “welcomes” the thoughts of governors on modernizing strategic energy reserves but gave no indication that her department is working on the subject itself.

She did say, however, that DOE and the states should “consider if a minimum fuel stock holding requirement for liquid fuels is a necessity moving forward.”

FERC is leading a meeting in Vermont next week to discuss winter reliability issues in New England. (See ISO-NE: Reliability Still Depends on Mass. LNG Import Terminal.)