The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will approve a legal waiver allowing Puerto Rico to receive a shipment of diesel fuel that has been held off the island's coast, following an uproar among officials in the island.

The administration faced intense blowback in recent days from members of Congress and the governor of Puerto Rico, who clamored for an exemption for federal law to allow a BP tanker carrying the fuel to access an island port as the commonwealth reels from Hurricane Fiona. The ship cannot do so because of the Jones Act, a 1920 shipping law that requires goods shipped between points in the United States to be carried on U.S.-flagged ships.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that the administration had approved a "temporary and targeted" waiver after consultation with the Energy, Transportation and Defense departments.