United States              Air and Radiation         EPA420-F-99-006
                   Environmental Protection                          February 1999
                   Agency

                   Office of Mobile Sources
v>EPA        Regulatory
                   Announcement
                   Final Rule Adds St. Louis, Missouri,
                   to the Federal  Reformulated Gasoline
                   Program
                   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final
                   rulemaking to include the St. Louis, Missouri, ozone nonattainment area
                   in the federal reformulated gasoline (RFC) program. This rulemaking
                   requires retail stations to sell federal RFC in the St. Louis area by June
                   1, 1999.
                   Background

                   The Clean Air Act requires EPA to establish standards for RFG to be
                   used in specified ozone nonattainment areas. Ozone nonattainment areas
                   classified as marginal, moderate, serious or severe, may also be included
                   in the RFG program if requested by the state's Governor. EPA is required
                   to establish an implementation date for the area to be included in the
                   program within a year of the governor's request.

                   St. Louis, Missouri is currently classified as a moderate ozone
                   nonattainment area. The St. Louis area continues to exceed the National
                   Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and faces the possi-
                   bility of being "bumped up" to a serious classification. In order to ad-
                   dress these concerns and identify the best possible options for addressing
                   the area's air quality problems, the state consulted both industry and
                   environmental representatives. The state identified several options and
                   ultimately decided to support the use of federal RFG gasoline.
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On July 13, 1998, EPA received a letter
from Governor Camahan of Missouri
officially requesting that the St. Louis area
be included in the federal reformulated
gasoline program.
         and
Benefits
RFG protects public health and the envi-
ronment by reducing harmful vehicle
emissions of ozone -forming compounds
and air toxics. RFG produces 15 to 17
percent less pollution than conventional
gasoline. Therefore, there is less smog-
forming ground-level ozone to damage
sensitive lung tissue and make it harder for
the lungs to function. Ozone exposure is
especially dangerous to children, the
elderly, and people with lung diseases like
asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema.

Air toxics from tailpipe emissions or
gasoline vapors also can be harmful. Some
of the toxic compounds in gasoline (e.g.,
benzene) and compounds created when
gasoline is burned in the engine are known
or believed to cause cancer. RFG is pro-
duced with smaller amounts  of benzene
than in previous gasolines, so there is less
to get into the air around us.

This final rule expands the federal program
to include the St. Louis ozone
nonattainment area and thereby provide
these benefits to the citizens  of St. Louis.
These benefits are an important part of the
area's air quality plan and provide needed
additional emission reductions to help the
area reach attainment of the ozone
NAAQS.
        on

Refiners, importers and oxygenate blenders
who produce or import RFG for use in the
St. Louis ozone nonattainment area as a
result of this final rule will be subject to the
RFG requirements. The RFG regulations
impose requirements such as sampling and
testing, registration, record keeping, report-
ing, product transfer documentation, and
compliance surveys.
For

Additional documents on the RFG program
are available electronically from the EPA
Internet server at:

  http ://www. epa.gov/oms/fuel .htm

For further information on this final rule,
please contact Karen Smith at:

  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  Office of Mobile Sources (6406J)
  401 M Street SW
  Washington, DC 20460
  202-564-9674

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