Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Renewable Fuel Standard ...

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IV. Registration, Recordkeeping, And Reporting Requirements A. Introduction Registration, recordkeeping and reporting are necessary to track compliance with the renewable fuels standard and transactions involving RINs. We are proposing to utilize the same basic forms for registration that we use under the reformulated gasoline (RFG) and anti-dumping program. 37 These forms are well known in the regulated community and are simple to fill out. Information requested includes company and facility names and addresses and the identification of a contact person with phone number and e-mail address. Registrations do not expire and upon receipt of a completed registration form, EPA will issue unique company and facility identification numbers that will appear in compliance reports and, in the case of renewable fuels producers, will be incorporated in the unique RINs they generate for each batch of renewable fuel. We intend to use the same simplified registration method we use for existing fuels programs under 40 CFR part 80, and parties who have already registered with EPA under an existing fuels program will not be required to re-register and will be able to use their existing EPA-issued company and facility registration numbers. We plan to use a simplified method of reporting via the Agency’s Central Data Exchange (CDX). CDX will permit us to accept reports that are electronically signed and certified by the submitter in a secure and robustly encrypted fashion. Guidance for reporting will be issued prior to implementation and will contain specific instructions and formats consistent with provisions in the final rule. We intend to accept electronic reports generated in virtually all commercially available spreadsheet programs and to permit parties to submit reports in comma delimited text, which can be generated with a variety of basic software packages. In order to permit maximum flexibility in meeting the RFS program requirements, we must track activities involving the creation and use of RINs, as well as any transactions such as purchase or sale of RINs. Reports will be included in a compliance database managed by EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality and will be reviewed for completeness and for potential violations. Potential violations will be referred to enforcement personnel. Records related to RIN transactions may be kept in any format and the period of record retention by reporting parties is five (5) years, which is the time frame for retention under similar 40 CFR part 80 fuels compliance reporting programs. Records retained would include copies of all compliance reports submitted to EPA and copies of product transfer documents (PTDs). Records would have to be provided to the Administrator or the Administrator’s representative upon request and they may have to be converted to a readable, usable format. 37 Please refer to http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/fuels/rfgforms.htm. The relevant registration forms for our existing fuels programs are 3520-20A, 3520-20B, and 3520-20B1. Interested parties may wish to view these forms, as they may be useful in preparing comments on this proposed rule. - 104 -
B. Requirements for Obligated Parties and Exporters of Renewable Fuels 1. Registration We are proposing that “obligated parties” including refiners, importers, and blenders of gasoline, as well as exporters of renewable fuel, must register with EPA by [90 DAYS AFTER FINAL PUBLICATION OF THE FINAL RULE]. Most refiners and importers are already registered with us under various regulations related to reformulated (RFG) and conventional gasoline or diesel fuel. We propose that these existing registrations be applicable under the renewable fuel standard as well. Exporters of renewable fuels may not have registered with EPA and we anticipate perhaps 25 new registrations and 25 updated registrations because of this program. If a party becomes subject to this proposed regulation after the effective date, then we propose that they must register with us and receive their EPA-issued company and facility registration numbers prior to engaging in any transaction involving RINs. Any party who is not currently registered with us would have to submit a simple registration form. We will issue a 4-digit company identification number and, for each facility registered, a 5-digit facility identification number. Currently registered parties will only be responsible for updating company and facility records as the need to update routine information arises, for example, if corporate points of contact or addresses change. Currently registered refiners and importers would continue to use their existing 4-digit company and 5-digit facility identification numbers. 2. Reporting There are three types of reports that would be required of obligated parties and exporters of renewable fuel. Reports would be required to be submitted on an annual basis by the February 28 following a given January through December annual compliance period. The first type of report would provide the compliance demonstration. It would require obligated parties to provide information about their annual volume of gasoline produced or imported, and would require exporters to provide information about their annual volume of renewable fuel exported. The report would also describe the calculation of their corresponding renewable volume obligation (RVO), a listing of the RINs applied towards the RVO, any deficit carried over from the previous year, and any deficit carried into the next year. The second type of report would provide detailed transactional information regarding RINs. It would be akin to credit trading reports submitted by refiners and importers under other fuels programs in 40 CFR Part 80, such as the gasoline sulfur program. The purpose of this report would be to document the ownership, transfer and use of RINs and to track expired RINs. As such, and noted below, these reports would be - 105 -
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The Administrator signed the follow
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Ave., NW, Washington DC. This Docke
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Table of contents: I. Background A.
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C. Requirements for Producers and I
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G. Executive Order 13045: Protectio
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The increased use of renewable fuel
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establish the applicable national v
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Today's proposal outlines the full
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enewable fuel feedstock market pric
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Unlike VOC and NOx, emissions of CO
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These renewable feedstocks are then
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5. Potential Water Quality Impacts
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enewable fuel volume which each par
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certain volume of renewable fuel. E
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est practices would have the option
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As stated, the renewable fuel stand
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enewable fuel volumes in the calcul
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For illustrative purposes, we have
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These credit provisions have meanin
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Stdi = The RFS program standard for
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gasoline. The Act is unclear on whe
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. Ethanol Made From Any Feedstock I
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generate thermal energy used to pro
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animal wastes, including poultry fa
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limit this program solely to a stra
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presence of the denaturant. For ins
Page 53 and 54: First, doing so could create an inc
Page 55 and 56: For purposes of this preamble, the
Page 57 and 58: capability for all of the small ref
Page 59 and 60: trading program, without any per ga
Page 61 and 62: obligated parties. However, there i
Page 63 and 64: particular importance for 2013 and
Page 65 and 66: have to significantly change their
Page 67 and 68: The D code would identify cellulosi
Page 69 and 70: Another case in which a RIN may not
Page 71 and 72: Section IV. In the context of demon
Page 73 and 74: equired volumes shown in Table I.B-
Page 75 and 76: We request comment on the valid lif
Page 77 and 78: e used for current year compliance.
Page 79 and 80: equirements by roughly 10 to 30 per
Page 81 and 82: 4. Provisions For Exporters Of Rene
Page 83 and 84: Previous-year RINs: RINs that came
Page 85 and 86: a. Responsibilities Of Renewable Fu
Page 87 and 88: another, in electronic or paper for
Page 89 and 90: e a one-to-one correspondence betwe
Page 91 and 92: Parent batch Actual volume (gal) Ba
Page 93 and 94: should also have the right to separ
Page 95 and 96: 3. Distribution Of Separated RINs O
Page 97 and 98: obligated parties to exercise marke
Page 99 and 100: Our proposed program is designed to
Page 101 and 102: As discussed in Section III.D, it i
Page 103: additional enforcement burdens plac
Page 107 and 108: fuel and containing identifying inf
Page 109 and 110: We request comment on our proposed
Page 111 and 112: We also request comment on our prop
Page 113 and 114: The refiner or importer would be li
Page 115 and 116: Plant Feedstock Corn a Table VI.A.1
Page 117 and 118: Leading the Midwest in ethanol prod
Page 119 and 120: EPA forecasts ethanol production to
Page 121 and 122: As shown in Table VI.A.2-1 and Figu
Page 123 and 124: 3. Current Ethanol and MTBE Consump
Page 125 and 126: Oxygenate Use (Bgal) 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.
Page 127 and 128: change from the 2004 base case. 53
Page 129 and 130: per gallon to biodiesel produced fr
Page 131 and 132: ased on the assumption that the ble
Page 133 and 134: Modifications to the rail, barge, t
Page 135 and 136: other waste materials as discussed
Page 137 and 138: elatively small fraction of the tot
Page 139 and 140: production costs using prices for s
Page 141 and 142: the capital cost of making the nece
Page 143 and 144: information on biodiesel freight co
Page 145 and 146: For further details on RVP reductio
Page 147 and 148: assuming only that blending of etha
Page 149 and 150: costs). At a $70 per barrel crude o
Page 151 and 152: gasoline use scenarios will cost th
Page 153 and 154: the incentive to blend in ethanol b
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supporting this rulemaking. We hope
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We base our estimates of fuel quali
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Table VIII.A.1.b-2 Effect of MTBE a
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pre-1998 model year onroad diesel e
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1. Primary Analysis The national em
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Table VIII.B.1-4 Annual Emissions N
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RFG due to the absence of an RVP wa
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increase in ambient ozone levels is
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developing a model of secondary org
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IX. Impacts On Fossil Fuel Consumpt
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intended to help fuel producers est
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efficiency and to reduce air emissi
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combined those displacement indexes
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3. Displacement Indexes (DI) The di
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Table IX.C.1-1 Fossil fuel impacts
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as on the exports of agricultural p
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which may change in response to an
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X. Agricultural Sector Economic Imp
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XI. Public Participation We request
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ways to comply with any previously
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small refiner under this proposal.
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meet these criteria to be considere
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“economically significant” as d
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40 CFR Part 80 is proposed to be am
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(b) Renewable Fuel Standard for 200
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(2) The term “Renewable fuel” i
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RFStdi = Renewable Fuel Standard in
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a party’s renewable volume obliga
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(a) YYYY is the calendar year in wh
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(ii) The value for EEEEEE in an ext
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(2) A deficit is calculated accordi
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(a) (1) Any party that exports any
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(e) If a refiner is complying on an
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calendar year; however, disqualific
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§80.76, if such information has no
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(1) A summary report of the annual
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(4) Reports shall be submitted on f
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(1) Fail to acquire sufficient RINs
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(b) The following attest procedures
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(B) That the RFS-FRGAS remained seg
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EPA employees or EPA contractors, f
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(iv) Determine the date and time th
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(ii) Be licensed as a Certified Pub
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