EPA420-F-96-021
                                   July 15, 1996
   RFG/Anti-Dumping
Questions and Answers
     July  15, 1996
    Fuels and Energy Division
     Office of Mobile Sources
 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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         RFG/ANTI-DUMPING QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, JULY 15,1996
The following are responses to questions received by the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) 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, 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.
                                     BASELINES

Question:  A refiner establishes a single 1990 baseline representing several facilities according
to the closely integrated facilities provision in §80.91(e)(l).  In 1996, one of the facilities in
question shuts down. Is the refiner allowed to change its 1990 baseline to exclude the influence
of the shut-down refinery on its baseline?

Answer: In general, no  Under the closely integrated facilities provision, two or more
facilities are assumed to operate as a single refinery.  If one of the facilities shuts down, the
situation is analogous to the shut-down of one or more blendstock producing units in
single-facility refinery. In both cases, since the 1990 situation remains unchanged, so also should
the  1990 baseline.
July 15, 1996

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The regulations provide few means for recalculation of a refinery baseline due to changes that
occurred after 1990.  One of these involves aggregation [see §80.101(h)].  Aggregation allows a
multi-refinery refiner to group its individual baselines, representing separate refineries, together
for a single set of compliance calculations. Aggregation thus occurs after the baselines for the
individual facilities have been calculated and approved. In addition, there are no criteria that
must be met before use of an aggregate baseline will be approved. Aggregated baselines may be
recalculated according to §80.91(f)(4) in the event that one refinery is shut down or changes
owners.

The closely integrated facilities provision [§80.91(e)(l)] is distinct and separate from the
aggregation provision.  In order to take advantage of the closely integrated facilities provision, a
refiner must show that 1) the facilities in question were proximate to one another in 1990, and 2)
their 1990 operations were significantly  interconnected. A single baseline is developed which
represents all the facilities in question. There is no regulatory provision for recalculating such a
baseline if one facility is shut down or changes owners.

The EPA may consider making a change to a refiner's baseline if one of the facilities included
in a closely integrated facilities baseline is sold to another refiner rather than simply being
shut down.  Under these conditions, the 1990 production may be double-counted as the sold
refinery uses its own baseline representing gasoline it produced in 1990.  Such situations will be
evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
July 15, 1996

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