EPA420-F-95-020
February 21, 1995
RFG/Anti-Dumping
Questions and Answers
February 21,1995
Fuels and Energy Division
Office of Mobile Sources
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
-------
RFG/ANTI-DUMPING QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, FEBRUARY 21,1995
The following are responses to most of the questions received by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) through February 6, 1995, concerning the manner in which the EPA
intends to implement and assure compliance with the reformulated gasoline and anti-dumping
regulations at 40 CFR Part 80. This document was prepared by EPA's Office of Air and
Radiation, Office of Mobile Sources, and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance,
Office of Regulatory Enforcement, Air Enforcement Division.
Regulated parties may use this document to aid in achieving compliance with the
reformulated gasoline (RFG) and anti-dumping regulations. However, this document does not in
any way alter the requirements of these regulations. While the answers provided in this
document represent the Agency's interpretation and general plans for implementation of the
regulations at this time, some of the responses may change as additional information becomes
available or as the Agency further considers certain issues.
This guidance document does not establish or change legal rights or obligations. It does
not establish binding rules or requirements and is not fully determinative of the issues addressed.
Agency decisions in any particular case will be made applying the law and regulations on the
basis of specific facts and actual action.
While we have attempted to include answers to all questions received by February 6,
1995, the necessity for policy decisions and/or resource constraints may have prevented the
inclusion of certain questions. Questions not answered in this document will be answered in a
subsequent document. Questions that merely require a justification of the regulations, or that
have previously been answered or discussed either in a previous Question and Answer document
or the Preamble to the regulations have been omitted.
Topics Covered
Product Transfer Documentation
Transition Issues
February 21, 1995
-------
PRODUCT TRANSFER DOCUMENTATION
1. Question: Are distributors who deliver conventional gasoline to retailers and wholesale
purchaser-consumers in non-RFG areas required to fulfill the PTD requirements, including the
statement in § 80.106(a)(l)(vii)? Do retailers and wholesale purchaser-consumers in non-RFG
areas have to retain records?
Answer: The PTD requirements of § 80.106 apply to all distributors of conventional
gasoline. However, because the PTD requirements are of little value concerning the delivery of
conventional gasoline to a retailer or wholesale purchaser-consumer (or smaller purchaser with a
tank of less than 500 gallons) in a non-RFG area, EPA will not require compliance with the PTD
requirements in this limited situation. The PTD requirements of § 80.106, however, must be met
for all other transfers of conventional gasoline. Note that the PTD requirements of § 80.77 for
RFG and RBOB apply to all transfers of RFG and RBOB (other than when the gasoline is sold or
dispensed by a retail outlet or wholesale purchaser-consumer facility for use in motor vehicles),
including transfers in which RFG or RBOB is delivered to a customer's storage tank, regardless
of the size of the tank.
The anti-dumping regulations do not impose recordkeeping requirements for
conventional gasoline on parties downstream of the refiner or importer. See § 80.104. All
parties in the distribution network must maintain records for RFG and RBOB in accordance with
§ 80.74, however.
[NOTE: The following is a revision of Question 2 of the Product Transfer Documentation
section of the January 9,1995 Question and Answer Document.]
2. Question: In the case of an integrated company, which is registered as a refiner (we have a
company number and four specific numbers for our four refineries that are registered), must our
registration number appear on all product transfer documents where some part of our company is
a transferor or transferee or only when the specific facilities that are registered are involved in the
transaction. Our understanding is that when, for example, we transfer product from one of our
marketing terminals (which is not registered as a refiner, importer or oxygenate blender) to a
retail gasoline station (also not registered as a refiner, importer or oxygenate blender) that we
would not be required to show our EPA registration number on the transfer document; we would
only be required to show it when one of our four registered refinery locations was involved in the
transfer. Is this correct?
Answer: Sections 80.77(j) and 80.106(a)(l)(vi) require, in the case of transferors or
transferees who are refiners, importers or oxygenate blenders, that the EPA assigned registration
numbers of those persons be included on the PTDs. EPA has received various comments from
industry indicating that parties have encountered difficulties in complying with this requirement,
particularly in certain situations downstream of the refiner/importer/blender. EPA also now
believes this requirement has only limited value as a means of identifying and tracking the
February 21, 1995 1
-------
gasoline. As a result, EPA will not require compliance with the requirement that EPA assigned
registration numbers be included on PTDs. EPA will address deleting §§ 80.77(j) and
80.106(a)(l)(vi) in a subsequent rulemaking.
TRANSITION ISSUES
1. Question: At our terminal a transition of storage tanks is necessary in the spring to convert
from RBOB for ethanol blending (which is used during the non-VOC control season) to RFG
containing MTBE (which is used during the VOC control season). Similarly, in the fall, a
transition is necessary to convert from RFG to RBOB. It will be difficult for us to accomplish
these transitions using the storage tank "change of service" protocol EPA has described in the
RFG Question and Answer document, however. We only have a single storage tank for each
grade of RFG/RBOB, and these tanks are in constant demand from the truck loading rack they
supply. As a result, we will be unable to match the gasoline usage/delivery schedules with
sufficient precision that old product in the storage tanks will be at the low point when new
product arrives, without risking running out of product for the loading rack. Is there any other
option available for us to accomplish the change of service from RFG to RBOB, and from RBOB
to RFG?
Answer: Section 80.78(a) requires the segregation of RBOB and RFG or conventional
gasoline, and RBOBs that have different oxygen requirements must be segregated from each
other. Nevertheless, EPA has described a protocol for changing the service of a gasoline storage
tank that in certain situations would allow some mixing of products that normally must remain
segregated (see, the November 21, 1994 Question and Answer Document).
However, EPA recognizes certain terminals that have limited tankage which is in heavy
demand may have difficulty meeting each of the requirements of this protocol during a transition
from RBOB to RFG in the spring prior to the VOC control season, and from RFG to RBOB in
the fall prior to the non-VOC control season. Consequently, a terminal may transition from
RBOB to RFG, and vice versa, as follows:
First, the terminal must be unable to meet the requirements of the "change of service"
protocol described in the November 21, 1994 RFG Question and Answer document.
Second, the terminal must be changing the tank service for the purpose of transit!oning
from RBOB to RFG in the spring prior to the VOC control season and from RFG to RBOB in
the fall immediately subsequent to the beginning of the non-VOC control season.
Third, the party must draw down the gasoline volume in the tank to the lowest point
which still allows customers assigned to the tank to continue to load product during the
transition.
February 21, 1995
-------
Fourth, the party must fill the tank as full as possible with the new product, taking into
account the volume of product that is reasonably available. The party must collect a
representative sample from the filled tank and hand blend with this sample the oxygenate type
and amount which will be added to the new product at the loading rack under steps 5 or 6, below.
Analysis of this sample must show the gasoline meets each downstream standard that applies to
the new gasoline type. Gasoline may not be dispensed from the storage tank until this step is
complete.
Fifth, in transit!oning from RBOB to RFG, if the test results indicate that the oxygen
level of the RFG is less than 1.5 wt%, the party must blend sufficient oxygenate into the RFG at
the loading rack to bring its oxygen content to 1.5 wt%. The party must repeat steps 4 and 5 for
each subsequent receipt of RFG until the RFG in the terminal tank contains 1.5 wt% oxygen.
This transition from RBOB to RFG must be complete prior to the date the VOC-control
standards apply to the terminal (normally May 1).
Sixth, in transit!oning from RFG to RBOB, if the test results indicate that the oxygen
content of the RBOB is less than the level specified for the RBOB the party must blend sufficient
oxygenate at the loading rack to bring the RBOB to its specified level. The party must repeat
steps 4 and 6 for each subsequent receipt of RBOB until the RBOB in the terminal tank contains
no RFG. This transition from RFG to RBOB may not begin until the date the VOC-control
standards no longer apply to the terminal (normally September 16).
Seventh, the party must retain documents that demonstrate these steps in the tank service
change process.
February 21, 1995
------- |