Removal of the Federal Reformulated Gasoline Program From the Southern Maine Area

Michael S. Regan
Environmental Protection Agency
16 July 2021

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 134 (Friday, July 16, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 37681-37683]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-15127]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 80

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0114; FRL-10025-34-OAR]


Removal of the Federal Reformulated Gasoline Program From the 
Southern Maine Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notification of final action on petition.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final 
action in announcing its approval of the petition by Maine to opt-out 
of the Federal reformulated gasoline (RFG) program and remove the 
requirement to sell Federal RFG for York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, 
Sagadahoc, Kennebec, Knox and Lincoln counties (the Southern Maine 
Area), which are part of the Portland and Midcoast Ozone Maintenance 
Areas for the 1997 ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). 
EPA has determined that this removal of the Federal RFG program for the 
Southern Maine Area is consistent with the applicable provisions of the 
Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA's regulations.

DATES: The effective date for removal of the Southern Maine Area from 
the Federal RFG program is September 30, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Coryell, Office of Transportation 
and Air Quality, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 Traverwood, 
Ann Arbor, MI 48105; telephone number: (734) 214-4446; email address: 
coryell.mark@epa.gov or Rudy Kapichak, Office of Transportation and Air 
Quality, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 Traverwood, Ann 
Arbor, MI 48105; telephone number: 734-214-4574; email address: 
kapichak.rudolph@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    Entities potentially affected by this final action are fuel 
producers and distributors who do business in the Southern Maine Area.

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                                                               NAICS \1\
          Examples of potentially regulated entities             codes
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Petroleum refineries.........................................     324110
                                                                  424710
Gasoline Marketers and Distributors..........................     424720
Gasoline Retail Stations.....................................     447110
Gasoline Transporters........................................     484220
                                                                  484230
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    The above table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather 
provides a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated 
by this action. The table lists the types of entities of which EPA is 
aware that potentially could be affected

[[Page 37682]]

by this final action. Other types of entities not listed on the table 
could also be affected by this final action. To determine whether your 
organization could be affected by this final action, you should 
carefully examine the regulations in 40 CFR part 1090. If you have 
questions regarding the applicability of this action to a particular 
entity, see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 
preamble.
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    \1\ North American Industry Classification System.
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B. How can I get copies of this document and other related information?

    EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. 
EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0243. All documents in the docket are listed on the 
www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the index, some 
information may not be publicly available, e.g., Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is 
not placed on the internet and will be publicly available only in hard 
copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available 
electronically through www.regulations.gov.

II. Background

A. What is the Federal RFG program?

    The 1990 CAA Amendments (CAA) established specific requirements for 
the Federal RFG program to reduce ozone levels in certain areas in the 
country experiencing ground-level ozone or smog problems by reducing 
vehicle emissions of compounds that form ozone, specifically volatile 
organic compounds (VOCs). CAA section 211(k)(5) directed EPA to issue 
regulations that specify how gasoline can be ``reformulated'' to result 
in significant reductions in vehicle emissions of ozone-forming and 
toxic air pollutants relative to the 1990 baseline fuel, and to require 
the use of such reformulated gasoline in certain ``covered areas.'' The 
CAA defined certain nonattainment areas as ``covered areas'' that are 
required to use RFG and provided other areas with an ability to ``opt-
in'' to the RFG program. CAA section 211(k)(6) provides an opportunity 
for an area classified as a Marginal, Moderate, Serious, or Severe 
ozone nonattainment area, or which is in the ozone transport region 
established by CAA section 184(a), to ``opt-in'' to the RFG program 
upon application by the governor of the state (or authorized 
representative) and subsequent action by EPA.
    Similar to other RFG covered areas, RFG opt-in areas are subject to 
the prohibition in section 211(k)(5) on the sale or dispensing by any 
person of conventional (non-RFG) gasoline to ultimate consumers in the 
covered area. The prohibition also includes the sale or dispensing by 
any refiner, blender, importer, or marketer of conventional gasoline 
for resale in any covered areas, without segregating the conventional 
gasoline from RFG and clearly marking conventional gasoline as not for 
sale to ultimate consumers in a covered area. EPA first published 
regulations for the RFG program on February 16, 1994 (59 FR 7716).
    On July 23, 2013, the Governor of Maine formally requested, 
pursuant to CAA section 211(k)(6)(B), that the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) extend the requirement for the sale of RFG to 
the Southern Maine Area beginning on May 1, 2014. The Maine legislature 
subsequently enacted an emergency law, Public Law 2013 c.452, effective 
March 6, 2014, to postpone the requirement for the sale of RFG in the 
Southern Maine Area until June 1, 2015. Pursuant to that legislation, 
the Commissioner of the Maine DEP submitted a request to the EPA on 
March 10, 2014, modifying Maine's request for the implementation date 
for the sale of RFG in the Southern Maine Area to coincide with the new 
June 1, 2015 effective date. A current listing of the RFG covered areas 
and a summary of RFG requirements can be found on EPA's website at: 
https://www.epa.gov/gasoline-standards/reformulated-gasoline.

B. RFG Opt-Out Procedures

    The RFG opt-out regulations (40 CFR1090.290--Changes to RFG covered 
areas and procedures for opting out of RFG) provide the process and 
criteria for a reasonable transition out of the RFG program if a state 
decides to opt-out.\2\ These RFG opt-out regulations provide that the 
governor of the state must submit a petition to the Administrator 
requesting to opt-out of the RFG program. The petition must include 
specific information on how, if at all, the state has relied on RFG in 
a proposed or approved state implementation plan (SIP) or plan revision 
and, if RFG is relied upon, how the SIP will be revised to reflect the 
state's opt-out from RFG. The opt-out regulations also provide that EPA 
will notify the state in writing of the Agency's action on the petition 
and the date the opt-out becomes effective (i.e., the date RFG is no 
longer required in the affected opt-in area) when the petition is 
approved. The opt-out regulations also provide that EPA will publish a 
Federal Register notice announcing the approval of any opt-out petition 
and the effective date of such opt-out. If a SIP revision is required, 
the effective date of EPA's approval of the opt-out can be no less than 
90 days from the effective date of EPA's approval of the revision to 
the SIP that removes RFG as a control measure (40 CFR 1090.290(d)).
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    \2\ Pursuant to CAA sections 211(c) and (k) and 301(a), EPA 
promulgated regulations at 40 CFR 80.72 to provide criteria and 
general procedures for states to opt-out of the RFG program where 
the state had previously voluntarily opted into the program. The 
regulations were initially adopted on July 8, 1996 (61 FR 35673) 
(the RFG ``Opt-out Rule''); were revised on October 20, 1997 (62 FR 
54552) and were subsequently revised on December 4, 2020 (85 FR 
78412).
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    EPA determined in the RFG ``Opt-out Rule'' that it would not be 
necessary to conduct a separate rulemaking for each future opt-out 
request (61 FR 35673 at 35675 (July 8, 1996)). EPA established a 
petition process to address, on a case-by-case basis, future individual 
state requests to opt-out of the RFG program. The RFG opt-out 
regulations establish clear and objective criteria for EPA to apply. 
These regulatory criteria address when a state's petition is complete 
and the appropriate transition time for opting out. As EPA stated in 
the preamble to the RFG Opt-out Rule, this application of regulatory 
criteria on a case-by-case basis to individual opt-out requests does 
not require notice-and-comment rulemaking, either under CAA section 
307(d) or the Administrative Procedure Act. Thus, in this action, EPA 
is applying the criteria and following the procedures specified in the 
RFG opt-out regulations to approve Maine's petition.

C. Opt-Out of RFG for the Southern Maine Area

    On August 20, 2020, Maine submitted a petition to the EPA 
Administrator requesting to opt-out from the RFG program for York, 
Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Kennebec, Knox and Lincoln 
counties (the Southern Maine Area), which are part of the Portland and 
Midcoast Ozone Maintenance Areas for the 1997 ozone NAAQS. EPA finds 
that Maine has provided the required information in the petition, per 
40 CFR 1090.290(d). In order to fulfill the requirements of the RFG 
opt-out regulations, on August 20, 2020, Maine submitted a revision to 
its maintenance plan for the Southern Maine Area to remove the 
emissions reductions associated with the use of RFG in this area and to 
demonstrate that the RFG opt-out would not interfere with the area's 
ability to attain or maintain the 1997, 2008 and 2015 ozone NAAQS and 
any other NAAQS as

[[Page 37683]]

required by CAA section 110(l) (40 CFR1090.290(d)). EPA published a 
proposed approval of the SIP revision on March 25, 2021 (86 FR 15844) 
and a final approval of the SIP revision on June 2, 2021 (86 FR 29520), 
with an effective date of July 2, 2021. The RFG opt-out regulations 
provide that the opt-out effective date shall be no less than 90 days 
from the EPA SIP approval effective date (40 CFR 1090(d)(2)(ii)). EPA 
is unaware of any reason that the effective date should be postponed, 
and therefore, is establishing an opt-out effective date of September 
30, 2021 for the Southern Maine Area.
    As provided by the RFG Opt-out Rule and the opt-out regulations in 
40 CFR 1090.290(e), EPA will publish a final rule to remove the seven 
counties in the Southern Maine Area from the list of RFG covered areas 
in 40 CFR 1090.285(d) after the effective date of the opt-out. EPA 
believes that completing this ministerial exercise to revise the list 
of covered areas in the Code of Federal Regulations after the effective 
date of the opt-out allows the opt-out to become effective within the 
timeframe described in 40 CFR 1090.290(d), and allows EPA to keep the 
lists of RFG covered areas in 40 CFR 1090.285 up to date.

III. Action

    EPA is approving Maine's petition because it contained the 
information required by 40 CFR 1090(d) in its petition to EPA to opt-
out of the RFG program and revised the approved maintenance plan for 
the 1997 ozone NAAQS for the Southern Maine Area to remove the 
emissions reductions associated with RFG. EPA is also determining the 
opt-out effective date by applying the criteria in 40 CFR 1090.290(d). 
As discussed in Section II.A. above, the RFG opt-out regulations 
require that if a state included RFG as a control measure in an 
approved SIP, the state must revise the SIP, reflecting the removal of 
RFG as a control measure before an opt-out can be effective, and the 
opt-out cannot be effective less than 90 days after the effective date 
of the approval of the SIP revision. EPA published a final approval of 
Maine's maintenance plan revision and noninterference demonstration on 
June 2, 2021 (86 FR 29520), with an effective date of July 2, 2021.
    In summary, EPA is notifying the public that it has applied its 
regulatory criteria to approve the petition by Maine to opt-out of the 
RFG program for the Southern Maine Area of the Portland and Midcoast 
ozone maintenance area for the 1997 ozone NAAQS and is thereby removing 
the prohibition on the sale of conventional gasoline in that area as of 
September 30, 2021 (40 CFR 1090.290(d)). This opt-out effective date 
applies to retailers, wholesale purchasers, consumers, refiners, 
importers, and distributors.

Michael S. Regan,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2021-15127 Filed 7-15-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P