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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…
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For downstream compliance, has EPA addressed the issue that two complying batches mixed downstream may not comply when tested downstream?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. In the development of the Complex Model, EPA investigated the possibility that two complying batches, when mixed, may not comply with the RFG standards. This "fungibility" issue arises out of the model's nonlinear character. Based on a Monte Carlo…
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A refinery can produce non-ester renewable diesel by processing renewable feedstock through a distillate hydrotreater. In this situation, the refinery must assign RINs based on the feed volume. I assume the refinery can follow the rules for defining a batch (i.e. a batch can be up to the production volume of a month as long as the batch total volume is less than 100 million gallons).
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Yes. However, it is the total number of gallon-RINs, not the total volume, that must be less than 100 million. See regulation Section 80.1126(c). Question and Answer was originally posted at: Questions and Answers on the Renewable Fuel Standard…
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During a transition period, refiners will produce VOC-controlled RFG that is blended with non VOC-controlled RFG downstream of the refinery in order to blend down RVP prior to the beginning of the VOC season. How will the resultant mixture be classified and identified on the PTD issued for instance by a terminal?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The resulting gasoline should be listed as non VOC-controlled RFG on the PTD's, unless the resulting blend meets the requirements to be designated as VOC-controlled gasoline. (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Is EPA documentation necessary to settle inventory over/short accounts where the volume of gasoline involved is de minimis? If so, what are the parties documenting?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. PTD information is only required when there is a transfer of title or custody of any gasoline (with the exception of gasoline sold or dispensed at a retail outlet or wholesale purchaser-consumer for use in motor vehicles). As a…
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EPA has stated that a Product Transfer Document must be provided to the transferee in an exchange transaction. Is this true when this exchange is instantaneous and the transferee has no ability to alter the product?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Yes. When any person transfers title or custody of any gasoline (with the exception of gasoline sold or dispensed at a retail outlet or wholesale purchaser-consumer for use in motor vehicles), the transferor must provide to the transferee the…
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The EPA has stated that PTD's include documents that reflect the transfer of ownership and physical custody of gas or blendstock, including invoices, receipts, bills of lading, manifests and pipeline tickets. Each of these documents contain different pieces of information required by the EPA. Some specify quality, quantity, parties of transfer, etc. Some are available prior to product shipment and some, such as pipeline meter tickets and final Bills of Lading, are provided after the product moves. Can we assume that the information identifying place of use restrictions, segregation requirements or standards of performance can be provided to the transferee prior to the product shipment? But that other transfer document requirements such as final quantity shipped, can be provided to the transferee after the product moves?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Yes. The regulations require PTD's be provided by the transferor to the transferee on each occasion when any person transfers custody or title of RFG, RBOB or conventional gasoline. The regulations do not specify at what point in the…
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EPA has stated that RFG imports must be tested and certified before off-loading a marine vessel. Must this certification occur while the vessel is docked, or may it occur while the vessel is at anchor? If a vessel is certified while at anchor, may the gasoline be transported to shore tanks using smaller vessels ("lightering"), with product transfer documents to document the transfers?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Imported gasoline normally must be certified while the gasoline is on board the marine vessel used to transport the gasoline to the United States, and the certification sampling must be performed subsequent to the vessel's arrival in the port…
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EPA has required that volumes be reported in gallons, but much of the industry measures volume in barrels. May volume be reported in barrels?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. No. If necessary, convert the volume in barrels to gallons using the proper conversion factor (42 gals/bbl) and round the result to the nearest whole gallon. When rounding fractional values, values from 0.01 to 0.49 should be rounded down…
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Exactly where will EPA define downstream and upstream in regards to applying enforcement test tolerances at refineries, including terminals registered as refineries? For example, does the enforcement test tolerance apply to RFG after it has been produced and certified at a refinery and transferred from the blending tank to other tankage at that refinery?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The enforcement test tolerances (which are relevant only to the "downstream standards" which are oxygen, benzene, and RVP) would apply to samples of RFG collected subsequent to movement of the RFG from the tank in which the certification sampling…
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The territories and protectorates that are included in the CAA definition of "State" are not per se included in the PADD definition. What are the PADD designations for the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are in PADD 6; Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands are in PADD 7. (12/5/94) This question and answer was posted at