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Section 80.1164(a)(1)(ii) of the regulation states that the CPA conducting the attest engagement must obtain documentation of any volumes of renewable fuel used in gasoline during the reporting year; compute and report as a finding the volumes of renewable fuel represented in these documents. What does this mean?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. This provision is intended to require the CPA to include in his or her report any volume of renewable fuel actually used in gasoline produced at the refinery or imported by the importer, but is not intended to include…
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Where in the final anti-dumping regulations are oxygenate blenders excluded from the antidumping requirements?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Although oxygenate blenders have been considered refiners under previous EPA programs, they have been defined separately from refiners under § 80.2 for the purpose of specific requirements under the RFG program. The regulations specify that only refiners and importers…
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Where a company is both an obligated party and an importer of renewable fuel, the company will generate RINs in its importer capacity and separate the RINs from the volume of imported fuel in its capacity as an obligated party. Is this activity considered
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. No transaction report is required for internal company transfers as all RINs are owned at the corporate level. The company would submit a RIN generation report for the RINs it generated for the imported renewable fuel and a compliance…
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Where is it required in the regulations that the PTD's for RFG must designate the finished gasoline as meeting the oxygenate standard on the per-gallon or average? Would it not be sufficient to infer the average standards from the listings of min/max's on the PTD? This requirement is not found in § 80.77.
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The PTD requirements for RFG do not require that gasoline be designated as meeting the standards, including the oxygenate standard, per-gallon or average. Section 80.77 does require that PTD information include the minimum and maximum downstream standards with which…
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Where should registrations and reports be sent?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Attn: REFGAS (6406J) 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20460 (7/1/94) This question and answer was originally posted at
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Why must oxygen and benzene credits pass only from creator to user? Why can't a blender or importer buy credits in advance as a safety measure, and then sell or resell them if/when (within the averaging period) it is established that it has performed better than expected?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The regulations do not provide for the reselling of credits. However, there may be ways for businesses to provide some flexibility, such options to buy credits which extend to the end of the averaging period. (8/29/94) This question and…
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Will the Complex Model for NOx emissions take additive effects into account?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. No. However, the Complex Model can be augmented through the vehicle testing procedure outlined in the final rule to include the emission effects of an additive. (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Will the EPA allow certain pipeline companies to maintain their recently elected 1.18 percent maximum benzene specification, which could tighten supply into major RFG consuming areas?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. EPA has no authority to allow or disallow gasoline specifications that are set by a pipeline or any other party, as long as they are in compliance with the applicable regulations. (8/29/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Will carbon monoxide non-attainment areas have to market 2.0% oxygen during one season and 2.7% oxygen during another season?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. If an RFG area is also an oxygenated fuels program control area, then the RFG distributed to that area during the designated carbon monoxide control season will, pursuant to section 211(m) of the Act, require an average of 2.7%…
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Will EPA waive penalties imposed for late reports if reports are late due to mechanical or electronic failures?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. EPA will not waive penalties arising from late reporting. Reports must be submitted within the times specified in the regulations. EPA believes that parties have ample time (approximately 60 days) to prepare and submit reports following each reporting period…
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Will a foreign refiner or blender, or an importer of RFG produced overseas, be given some kind of credit for plant emissions outside the United States?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. No. The RFG regulations do not extend to foreign refineries. (8/29/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Will EPA allow the electronic storage of records?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Yes, so long as reasonable access and audit controls are in place. This question and answer was originally posted at
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In the case of a refiner whose conventional gasoline is blended with oxygenate downstream of the refinery, and where the refiner includes this oxygenate in its anti-dumping compliance calculations, what options are available to the refiner for defining the volume and properties of this oxygenate. In particular, must the refiner report each occasion when the oxygenate is blended (each truck in the case of splash blending), or may the refiner report the total volume and properties of oxygenate used over a larger period of time?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Under § 80.101(d)(4)(ii)(A), a refiner may include in its refinery anti-dumping compliance calculations the oxygenate added downstream to gasoline produced at that refinery, if the oxygenate is added by the refiner. In addition, under § 80.101(d)(4)(ii)(B), the refiner may…
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In certain scenarios, codes are used to represent the transferees name and address on the PTD's. For example, when a customer purchases a load of gasoline from a terminal, a common carrier picks up the gasoline at the rack if the customer does not maintain his own fleet of trucks. The computer prepared BOL has all of the required PTD information on it except for the carriers name and address (a code is used to identify the carrier). Can we continue to use codes on the PTD to identify the transferee, in these cases?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Since the carrier would be the transferee in such a situation, the carrier's name and address would be required to be included in the PTD information. However, EPA has previously stated that the address of the transferor and transferee…
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In the case where RFG is in-line blended through a holding tank, should the compositor be located before or after the holding tank?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The regulations do not specify where the compositor should be located; however, the location of the compositor will determine what qualifies as the certified batch. The refiner should include the location of compositors in their petition for a waiver…
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Clarify that interactive effects must be investigated when augmenting the Complex Model for a new fuel parameter despite the fact that the specified test fuel matrix does not include the full set of orthogonal matrices which is statistically necessary.
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The test fuel matrix provided in the regulations delineates the minimum test program that would be acceptable to the Agency for Complex Model augmentation. A more comprehensive test program, which would provide the full set of orthogonal matrices which…
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Clarify that the proper version of the Complex Model that is to be used with an augmentation is the version that was in effect at the time the augmentation was approved. The preamble and regulations are inconsistent on this issue, and confusion arises in the term "the fuels," which is meant to apply to fuels that are produced before the augmentation is approved.
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The proper version of the Complex Model that is to be used with an augmentation is the version that was in effect at the time the augmentation was approved. (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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May survey samples be used as a substitute for a refiner's quality assurance program for enforcement purposes?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Surveys may not be used as a substitute for a regulated party's own quality assurance program. (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Refiner A is holding some of Refiner B's conventional gasoline in tanks at one of Refiner A's terminals or at Refiner A's refinery. Refiner A adds additional stocks to that gasoline at the request of Refiner B. Who is responsible for including the stocks in their compliance calculation (Refiner A or Refiner B)?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The definition of "refiner" includes any person who owns, leases, operates, controls or supervises a refinery. Therefore, under this scenario, both the person who owns the gasoline being blended, and the person who owns the terminal tanks would be…
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A refiner elects to meet a RFG specification via the "averaging" method. Two-thirds of the way through the averaging period, his tracking of cumulative qualities shows he is just meeting the standard. For the remaining last third of the averaging period the gasoline stays within the maximum or minimum RFG limits but exceeds the averaging standard. As a result the average for the averaging period is off-spec. Ignoring the purchase of credits for oxygen or benzene standards, is the refiner liable for a daily penalty over the entire averaging period, or only the number of days in the last third of the averaging period?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Section 80.80(c) provides that the refiner would be liable for a daily penalty over the entire averaging period. Refiners, for each refinery, and importers, must elect to comply with each standard on a per-gallon or average basis at the…