United States Air and Radiation EPA420-F-00-008
Environmental Protection March 2000
Agency
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
Regulatory
Announcement
Minor Amendments to Emission
Requirements Applicable to Small
Nonroad Spark-Ignition Engines and
Marine Spark-Ignition Engines
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adopting several
minor revisions to current regulations concerning exhaust emissions
from: (1) nonroad spark-ignition engines at or below 25 hp, such as
lawnmowers, string trimmers and chainsaws (known as the "Small SI"
rule); and (2) marine outboard and personal watercraft spark-ignition
engines used in recreational boats and jet skis (known as the "Marine
SI" rule). These revisions address minor issues that have arisen since
EPA began implementing these two rules in 1997-1998.
Background
The amendments being adopted address four specific issues for Small SI
engines and Marine SI engines.
• The amendments specifically classify model airplane engines as
"recreational" and thereby exempt them from coverage under the
Small SI rule.
• The amendments revise the definition of "handheld" in the Small SI
rule to include engines that may weigh too much to be "handheld"
under the current definition only because they have advanced or
additional emission control technology.
> Printed on Recycled Paper
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The amendments provide compliance flexibility to small volume
Marine SI engine manufacturers who may face difficulties with the
existing averaging program because they have very limited product
lines.
The amendments limit the applicability of the current replacement
engine provisions in the Small SI and Marine SI rules so that the
replacement engine provisions cannot be misused by importers who
may be "manufacturers" by definition of the Clean Air Act, but do
not actually manufacture engines.
engines
The
limit in the
definition of
"handheld" in
the SI
rule
the
Background: When the Small SI rule was written, EPA was un-
aware that approximately 8,000 nonroad spark ignition engines are
sold in the United States each year that are used by hobbyists in
model aircraft, boats and cars. EPA has no emission data on these
engines and is concerned that the Small SI test procedure may not
be appropriate to represent the operation of these engines. Further,
many of these engines are produced by very small entities that may
lack the resources to conduct emission testing and certification.
These engines represent a just a fraction of a percent of the
20,000,000 Small SI engines sold each year in the United States
that are covered under the Small SI rule.
Final rule: There is a minor change to the definition of the term
"recreational" as used in the Small SI rule so that it would include
model airplane engines. We believe that the existing definition and
regulatory text already place engines used in model boats and cars
under the term "recreational." "Recreational" engines are excluded
from coverage under the Small SI rule. We plan to evaluate the
emissions and appropriate standards and test procedures for recre-
ational engines in a future rulemaking. We believe this is a more
appropriate forum to determine whether regulations are necessary
and appropriate for model airplane, car and boat engines.
Background: Handheld equipment has historically used lightweight
two stroke engines which have much higher emissions than the
heavier four stroke engines. While the Small SI rule regulates the
emissions from both "handheld" and "nonhandheld" engines, it
applies less stringent standards to "handheld" engines than to
"nonhandheld" engines. To limit the use of two stroke engines to
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Compliance
flexibility for
volume
SI
manufacturers
equipment that truly must be "handheld," the Small SI rule provides
for equipment weight limits above which a piece of equipment is
considered non-handheld and must use an engine which meets the
more stringent nonhandheld engine standards.
Recently, a manufacturer of handheld equipment pointed out that
the current weight limits on handheld equipment prevent the use of
lightweight four stroke engines that are intended for handheld
equipment and are much cleaner than conventional two stroke
engines.
Final Rule: We are not changing the weight limits, but in cases
where a piece of equipment exceeds the weight limit, the engine
will still be eligible for the handheld standards, if the excess weight
is directly attributable to the use of a four stroke engine or other
clean technology.
Background: The current marine SI standards are centered around
an averaging, banking and trading program whereby engine manu-
facturers can offset engines that exceed the emission standard with
engines that are under the standard. Such averaging schemes are
common in EPA rules and allow EPA to impose tighter overall
standards than might otherwise be possible in a situation where
every engine had to comply with the same standard.
While averaging, banking and trading (ABT) programs have many
advantages, they may pose difficulties for very small engine manu-
facturers that lack a diverse product line. These companies may
only have one engine family and, if it exceeds standards, they will
not have a "clean" engine family to offset it. Theoretically, these
companies could buy emission credits from other marine SI engine
manufacturers, but there is no guarantee that credits will be avail-
able for sale at a reasonable price. EPA's experience with ABT
under other rules indicates that manufacturers are reluctant to sell
credits to competitors.
We have become aware that some very small manufacturers of
marine SI engines exist who may be unable to offset the emissions
of their sole engine family in the later years of the marine SI stan-
dard phase-in. These manufacturers either require additional time to
comply or to stage an orderly exit from the market. These manufac-
turers point out that their products may be cleaner than similar size
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Applicability
of the
replacement
engine
to
certain
importers
engines from larger competitors, but they will lack the emission
credits to cover them that their larger competitors will generate
from other engines.
In more recent nonroad rules, we provided special flexibilities for
small volume manufacturers. Typically, these flexibilities would
exempt small volume manufacturers from phase-in requirements
and require them to simply comply with the final phase-in require-
ment.
Final Rule: Because the marine rule has an unusually long (9 year)
phase-in, we are not exempting very small marine SI manufacturers
from the entire phase-in, but rather a manufacturer producing less
than 1000 engines per year would be allowed one four-year "win-
dow" beginning in model year 2000 or later when it could maintain
a negative credit balance, subject to some very specific constraints.
Background: Our replacement engine provisions permit engine
manufacturers to sell uncertified pre-regulatory engines or certified
engines built to earlier standards in cases where an owner requires a
replacement engine, and no certified engine is available (either
performance or physically) to fit the equipment. Typically, the
manufacturer must ascertain that no certified engine from any
manufacturers' product line is available that will fit the equipment.
The engine manufacturer must also take the old engine in exchange
for the new uncertified engine and destroy it.
These replacement engine provisions affect only a very small
fraction of engines sold each year and serve to aid equipment
operators who experience premature engine failures where engine
repair or rebuild is not available, costs too much, or takes too long.
Under the Clean Air Act definitions, any importer of an uncertified
engine is considered a "manufacturer." Such importers may actually
have had nothing to do with the actual production of the engine.
Abuse could occur under the Marine SI and Small SI rules if, for
example, an equipment operator imported an uncertified engine.
Since it would be a "manufacturer" by definition, the equipment
operator could determine that no certified engine was available from
itself, and improperly import an uncertified engine, when a certified
engine might actually be available from the original engine manu-
facturer.
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Final Rule: We are amending both the Small SI and Marine SI
replacement engine provisions to require that, if an uncertified
replacement engine is to be imported, the engine manufacturer's
designated representative must determine that no certified engine is
available to fit the equipment.
will the SI 2
Rule?
These revisions affect the existing Small SI engine rules. The Phase 1
rule took effect in 1997; the Phase 2 nonhandheld rule was adopted in
March 1999; and the Phase 2 handheld rule is being adopted along with
these amendments.
can I get
You can access the entire text of the final rule, including both the pre-
amble and the regulatory text, electronically on the Office of Transporta-
tion and Air Quality Web site at:
http ://www. epa.gov/otaq/nonroad .htm
When you access this web site, click on the "Nonroad Engines and
Vehicles" icon. Then click on "Laws and Regulations," then "Spark-
Ignition Engines" and then scroll down to "Spark Ignition Engine Emis-
sions Regulations/Related Documents."
For further information on this final rule, please contact John Guy at:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
Certification and Compliance Division (6403-J)
401 M Street SW Washington, DC 20460
Email: guy.john@epa.gov
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can I to on
rule?
Materials relevant to these amendments are contained in Docket No. A-
98-16 and are available for public inspection and copying at the follow-
ing address:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Air and Radiation Docket (6102)
401 M Street SW
Washington, DC 20460
The docket is located in Room M-1500, Waterside Mall (ground floor)
and may be inspected from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and from 1 to 3 p.m.,
Monday through Friday. Copies of information in the docket may be
obtained by request from the Air Docket by calling (202) 260-7548. A
reasonable fee may be charged for copying docket materials.
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