&EPA
Air and Radiation EPA420-B-06-003
March
Environmental
Agency
Guidance on
Mobile Facilities
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EPA420-B-06-003
March 2006
on
Assessment and Standards Division
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Guidance on Mobile Facilities
This guidance document pertains to the revisions of§ 80.502, § 80.597, § 80.600, and
§80.602, which are contained in a Direct Final Rulemaking that was signed on
November 8, 2005 and published in the ; this
document is intended to supplement the regulation to assist entities within the
regulatory requirements of mobile facilities.
For a complete listing of the regulations, please visit the
The technical amendments to the regulations allow entities to register mobile
components that transport their fuel as one or more mobile facilities. During discussions
with parties in the fuel industry, it became evident to EPA that it could be extremely
difficult for every vessel (or "mobile component") owner/operator that transports fuel to
register for the purposes of designate and track (D&T). This could prove especially
difficult for those companies that tend to lease mobile components on a short-term basis
or use a different carrier each time they must transport fuel. While some entities
indicated that they had situations where it actually would be easier for them to have the
owner/operators register, EPA has issued a technical amendment that will allow entities
to register contracted mobile components as one or more "mobile facilities".
Vessel owners/operators may still register with EPA as separate entities and
facilities. In this case, each owner/operator is responsible for all requirements associated
with D&T, including recordkeeping, reporting, and volume balance accounting.
Mobile components are (and are not necessarily limited to): barges, ships, trucks,
and rail cars; and these vessels can be domestic or foreign
The regulations will now allow an entity to combine various mobile components
and register them as a 'virtual' facility
An entity must obtain the required 4-digit Entity ID and 5-digit Facility
ID(s) by submitting the proper registration forms to EPA
As with other facilities, each mobile facility must be referenced in
required recordkeeping and reporting documents by a 9-digit identification
number resulting from the combination of [Entity ID][Facility ID]
Mobile components may be defined and combined by an entity as it best sees fit
For example:
° an entity may combine all mobile activities together (e.g., "Acme
Fuels Mobile Operations" could consist of the 2 trucks and one rail
car that Acme Fuels contracts to transport its fuel)
an entity may segregate mobile facilities by mobile component
type, and have multiple registrations (e.g., "Acme Fuels Trucking"
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would consist of only the trucks that transport its fuel and "Acme
Fuels Rail" would consist of only the rail cars)
° an entity may segregate mobile activities by area (region, route,
waterway, etc) and register multiple facilities (e.g., "Acme Fuels
East Coast" and "Acme Fuels West Coast")
° an entity may also use a combination of these (e.g., "Acme Fuels
Trucking- East Coast" would consist of only the trucks that Acme
Fuels uses to transport its fuel in the East Coast area that it defined
in its registration)
Regardless of how an entity registers its mobile operations, a description
and/or diagram should be provided to describe the nature of the mobile
facility (if registering multiple facilities by area this should include a
detailed description/diagram of the area(s) that define the mobile facilities'
boundaries)
If an entity both owns and contracts/hires mobile components, these may
not be combined in the same mobile facility registration. Entity-owned
components should be put into a separate mobile facility(s) from those
operations in which an entity hires/contracts an owner/operator to
transport its product
° Facilities comprised of owned mobile components may be
aggregated with the entity's other owned stationary facilities, per
the aggregation requirements of § 80.502
Registration for these mobile facilities need not contain information on the exact
number of the mobile components or information regarding the specific
companies contracted
Mobile components and contracts with various owner/operators of
mobile components can be added/deleted from the facility without
the need to notify EPA
These mobile components will thus be able to transport product for
the registered entity without the mobile component, or its
owner/operator, being registered with EPA
Contract information with these mobile vessels should be retained
by the entity that registered the mobile facility
° EPA reserves the right to request this information at any
time
An entity must also keep any other records that would be
probative in the case of a D&T or standards violation (such
as shipping records)
All facility registration, recordkeeping, and reporting are the responsibility of the
entity that registered the mobile facility
The 'tracking' portion of D&T, and reporting, must be done by the
registered entity, not the owner/operators of the mobile components
Volume balance requirements must be satisfied
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To report volumes, an entity would: add up all hand-offs for all mobile
components, included under a given mobile facility's registration, received
and report the total as "receipts;" add up all hand-offs for all mobile
components, included under a given mobile facility's registration,
delivered and report the total as "deliveries"
° For example, a mobile facility "Acme Fuels Trucking- East Coast"
would report the total volume moved (whether standing contracts
with truck owner/operators, or a last-minute acquisition of extra
space on a truck), rather than the volume put on each specific truck
(records would still need to be maintained by the registered entity
though)
If a mobile facility is defined by a certain area in its
registration, the volumes of fuel that can be counted as
receipts or deliveries can only be operations that occurred
within the boundaries defining that facility (e.g., volumes
of fuel that are reported as received or delivered by Acme
Fuels Trucking- East Coast can only be from those truck
movements that occurred within the East Coast
'boundaries', as defined in the facility's registration)
Hand-offs and Transfers of Custody or Title
PTDs for mobile entities are similar to any other hand-off that occurs with
stationary facilities
° The entity and facility registration numbers given by EPA should
be used on PTDs
In situations where the recipient/transferee is unknown until the point of
delivery, a PTD may be issued at that point
° In situations where a contracted mobile component of one mobile
facility transfers fuel to a contracted component of another mobile
facility, a point-of-delivery PTD may be issued and should contain
the ID numbers of both of the registered mobile facilities
For the special case where title changes while a mobile component is in
transit (but the fuel never leaves the mobile component and facility), the
original entity that registered the mobile facility will continue to be
responsible for the D&T requirements until the fuel leaves that mobile
facility (i.e., a case where title is transferred "on the water"- fuel in a barge
that is covered by one entity's mobile facility is sold to another entity
while the barge is in transit)
Violations and Liability
D&T Violations: For D&T violations, liability is by registered facility
(and we would consider, in cases such as this, fuel in a contracted mobile
component to be in the custody of the registered entity since the mobile
component and the fuel are within the 'boundaries' of the entity's facility,
and the entity still has title to the fuel)
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° For example- if a volume balance error was found anywhere within
a registered mobile facility, the registering entity would be the
party held responsible
Standards violations: For standards violations, liability is by any
party/facility and can be either custody or title-based— all parties involved
in cases of standards violations could be presumed liable; including the
entity that registered the mobile facility and the owner/operator of the
mobile component in which the off-spec fuel is found
As with all fuels programs, presumptive liability may also affect
all other parties 'up the chain' that handled the specific batch of
fuel
EPA may require that records regarding the specific contracted
mobile components be produced
Aggregation
An entity may aggregate a mobile facility with another one of its facilities
only if the entity owns all of the mobile components in that mobile facility
(similar to § 80.502(b)(2))
Per § 80.502(b)(4), mobile facilities may only be aggregated with a
facility that they receive fuel from or deliver fuel to, but not both
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