Learn the Issues
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Will ethanol and biodiesel plants have to track the RIN all the way to the refiner, or just to the next owner of the renewable fuel?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Refer to the response to Question 3.3. Each party that owns assigned or unassigned RINs, including an ethanol or biodiesel production plant, is required only to keep records of and report transfers of ownership of those RINs its receives…
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Will foreign refiners be allowed to use a sulfur test other than D-2622 in order to verify specification?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Foreign refiners are not regulated parties under the reformulated gasoline regulations, issued on 12/15/93. Importers of foreign gasoline are required to test the gasoline using the regulatory methods, including the regulatory test method for sulfur. (7/1/94) This question and…
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Will internal auditors be able to perform the attestation audits under the direct supervision of an independent CPA firm? Can the internal audit department meet the attestation requirement using CPAs rather than CIAs?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Section 80.125(c) provides that an independent CPA (or firm of CPAs) engaged by a refiner, importer or oxygenate blender may complete the attest engagement requirements with the assistance of internal auditors so long as such assistance is in accordance…
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Will EPA waive the requirement for completing all testing prior to shipping for complex model conventional gasoline?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Section 80.101(i)(1)(i)(A) requires refiners and importers of conventional gasoline to determine the value of each of the properties required for determining compliance with applicable standards by collecting and analyzing a representative sample of each batch of gasoline using the…
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Will an independent laboratory be issued an ID for the entire company or must it register each one of its laboratories individually?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. If an independent sampling and testing firm runs many laboratories but test results will be gathered at and reported to EPA from a single location, the firm may register once at that location. If, however, reporting will be done…
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Will non-obligated parties that can hold title to RINs be required to balance them each quarter?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Every party that owns assigned RINs must comply with the end-of-quarter check described in regulation Section 80.1128(b)(5). This provision ensures that RINs must be transferred with renewable fuel as renewable fuel moves through the distribution system. However, this provision…
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Will refiners produce No. 1 diesel fuel at 15 ppm sulfur? What other cold weather-gelling strategies are available to the end-user?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Yes, some refiners will produce No. 1 diesel fuel. There are also various other cold-flow improver additives currently on the market as well. Question and Answer was originally posted at Questions and Answers on the Clean Diesel Fuel Rules…
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Will a portable midrange infrared analyzer be acceptable if correlated to the mandatory test method at an independent laboratory for monitoring the oxygenates, benzene, and aromatics for terminals and retailers in their quality assurance programs?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Testing for downstream quality assurance programs may be done with test methods other than the regulatory methods if adequate correlation to the regulatory test methods is demonstrated. However, testing for downstream oxygenate blending must be done using the regulatory…
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Will a regulated party's defense fail if test results indicate the product is over the standard but within the EPA announced test tolerance?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. As discussed in the Enforcement Tolerance section of this document, all gasoline downstream of the refinery or importer level may be released if test results for each parameter show the gasoline to be within the applicable standard plus the…
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Will transmix processors be allowed to "stack" ethanol and exceed the maximum allowable oxygenate content without regard to VOC requirements?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Transmix processors who produce RFG are considered to be refiners and are required to meet all RFG standards and requirements that apply to refiners for the RFG produced, including the standards for oxygen and the renewable oxygenate. To the…
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Would the following scenario require product transfer documents? At the end of a month of gasoline transactions, the following shortages apply:
Company A owes 10,000 barrels of product to company B
Company B owes 10,000 barrels of product to company C
Company C owes 10,000 barrels of product to company A
Instead of physically shipping any fuel the companies just correct their books to show everything is even.See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. EPA would not consider this a transfer of either custody or title since no actual gasoline is represented by these "book transfers"; however, PTD's must be provided where there is a transfer of title or custody of any volume…
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Are there any plans for laboratory certifications?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. No. It is the responsibility of each refiner to ensure the quality of the independent laboratory it is using. (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Who accounts for blending operations that take place in leased storage facilities?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Under the regulations, a refiner is any person who owns, leases, operates, controls, or supervises a refinery. As indicated above, an oxygenate blender is any person who owns, leases, operates, controls, or supervises an oxygenate blending facility, or who…
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Who accounts for imported finished gasoline blended with blendstock?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. If the blendstock added to the imported finished gasoline is oxygenate, then the blending activity is ignored and the finished gasoline is reported by the importer. If some other blendstock is blended to the imported finished gasoline, e.g., to…
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Who actually calculates the RVO? The refinery or EPA?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Each obligated party calculates the RVO itself, based on its annual gasoline volume. See regulation Sections 80.1152(a)(1)(v) and (vi). Question and Answer was originally posted at: Questions and Answers on the Renewable Fuel Standard Program (pdf) (55 pp, 221…
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Which market indicators will cause EPA to change the RFS standard?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. EPA will use information from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) that projects volumes of gasoline and renewable fuel in order to calculate the standard. Please refer to section 80.1105 of the regulation. Question and Answer was originally posted at…
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Who is the EPA contact person for questions about the procedure for measuring total aromatics with a GC-MS?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Contact Carl Scarbro (313) 668-4209 or Bruce Kolowich (313) 668-4582. (7/1/94) This question and answer was posted at
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Who is the transferee in a custody transfer where the owner of the receiving tank/truck/barge is different than the operator (scheduler) of the tank/truck/barge, who may also be different from the company that provides the employees of the site? Can a company assume that when multiple parties can be the transferee, that one can take on the role of being the designated responsible party?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. Regarding transfers of custody, PTDs are intended to be given to the person physically taking custody of the product. Where multiple parties are involved in a physical transfer of the product, and the transferor does not know the name…
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Will non-obligated parties in possession of RINs create a RIN shortage?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The in-use production volumes of renewable fuel are expected to exceed the requirements of the RFS program by a substantial margin. As a result, we expect there to be a surplus of RINs for at least the first few…
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Assuming that PTD's are required for exchange transactions and the data could be electronically stored in a manner ensuring the security and integrity of the data, would it be sufficient to provide transferees with access to electronic PTD's if the PTD's contain the same data as the original except for the absence of the drivers signature? Would it be sufficient to make the PTD's available through an electronic interface or would the transferor be required to electronically transmit?
See More Frequent Questions about Fuels Registration, Reporting, and Compliance Help. The regulations require that the transferor must provide to the transferee documentation that includes all the PTD information, not just make it accessible to the transferee. As a result, the PTD requirements would not be satisfied if the transferee…