vvEPA
United states Office of Transportation EPA420-F-04-063
Environmental Protection • A- ^ r* r^ i n^^ *
Agency and Air Quality December 2004
Regulatory
Announcement
EPA Proposes Modification of
Anti-Dumping Baselines for Gasoline
Produced or Imported for Use in
Hawaii, Alaska and U.S. Territories
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to modify
the reformulated gasoline (RFG) regulations to allow refiners and
importers of conventional gasoline produced or imported for use in
Hawaii, Alaska, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Virgin
Islands to petition EPA to change the way in which they calculate
emissions from such gasoline to demonstrate compliance with the RFG
program's anti-dumping requirements. We are proposing this rule to
address certain inconsistencies in the regulations which may have the
effect of requiring these refiners and importers to produce or import
gasoline that is cleaner than that required under the Clean Air Act and
that required of refiners and importers of gasoline produced or imported
for use in other parts of the country.
Background
The Clean Air Act (Act) requires EPA to establish rules requiring that
gasoline sold in certain areas be reformulated to reduce vehicle emis-
sions of toxic and ozone-forming compounds. This is known as reformu-
lated gasoline (RFG). The Act also requires EPA to establish rules that
would ensure that non-RFG, or conventional, gasoline used in the rest of
the country becomes no "dirtier" than gasoline produced or imported in
-------
1990. EPA published regulations for the certification and enforcement of
RFG, and regulations for conventional gasoline on February 16, 1994.
The regulations for conventional gasoline are called the "anti-dumping"
regulations.
This proposed rule would modify the anti-dumping regulations to allow
refiners and importers who produce or import conventional gasoline for
use in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to change the
way that they calculate emissions from such gasoline to calculate their
anti-dumping baselines and evaluate annual average emissions. Under
the current regulations, in certain situations, refiners and importers who
produce or import conventional gasoline for use in these areas are re-
quired to comply with a baseline emissions standard that was calculated
using a different model than that required for calculating annual average
emissions. As a result, some conventional gasoline produced or imported
for use in these areas is subject to an inappropriate standard. This pro-
posed rule would address this inconsistency by allowing these refiners
and importers the option to change their anti-dumping baselines to one
that was calculated using the same model as that required for calculating
annual average emissions.
This proposed rule would also extend a similar option to refiners and
importers for purposes of conventional gasoline compliance under the
Mobile Source Air Toxics rule.
Effect on Industry
This proposed rule would provide an alternative compliance method for
refiners and importers of conventional gasoline produced or imported for
use in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands who, under the
current regulations, are required to produce or import gasoline that is
actually cleaner than that required under the Clean Air Act. This rule
would result in lower compliance costs and greater flexibility for these
parties.
Health and Environmental Benefits
This proposed rule would provide an alternative compliance method for
affected parties without compromising the environmental goals of the
RFG program. Under this proposal, even if all of the affected parties
choose the new compliance method, the goals of the RFG program's
anti-dumping regulations would be met.
-------
Public Participation Opportunities
We welcome your comments on this proposed rule. For instructions on
submitting written comments, please see the Federal Register notice,
which is available from the EPA Air Docket by calling 202-566-1742;
please refer to Docket No. OAR-2003-0010. In addition, you can access
the proposed rule and related documents on EPAs Office of Transporta-
tion and Air Quality (OTAQ) Web site at:
www.epa.gov/otaq/rfg_regs.htm
For More Information
For more information on this proposed rule, please contact Marilyn
Bennett at:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Transportation and Air Quality (6406J)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
(202)343-9624
E-mail: bennett.marilvn@,epa.gov
------- |