The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) closed its public comment period Monday on its draft proposed rule on Fuels Regulatory Streamlining. EPA is looking to remove duplicative and obsolete regulatory requirements in some of the fuels area and update other requirements. NACS submitted its recommendations, which in general support EPA’s draft proposed rule.
In comments to the agency, NACS, along with SIGMA and NATSO, expressed support for much of the proposal. The groups shared, “On the whole, we support the agency’s proposal to streamlining existing fuel regulations in Part 80 and support elimination of redundant and obsolete regulations. The proposed regulatory changes will facilitate compliance with fuel and environmental regulations while simultaneously reducing regulated parties’ compliance costs and potentially lowering the fuel costs for American consumers.”
The associations also shared support for listing general requirements for regulated parties in Part 1090 “as it will help determine what is expected of them and make it easier to navigate EPA’s regulatory fuel corpus,” the letter states. In addition, it will simplify the Reformulated Gasoline Standard and improve efficiency.
The letter expresses some reservations regarding downstream BOB recertification. “As drafted (Sec 1090.740 – Downstream BOB Recertification), the provision is unclear and may not function as intended by EPA.” Further, it “could have negative impacts of E15 retail market.”
The proposed Fuels Regulatory Streamlining rule, if finalized, could be one of the most significant regulatory updates affecting the fuel market that EPA has done. After reviewing all public comments and making any edits or adjustments, the draft final rule will go to the Office of Budget and Management (OMB). Once OMB and the Trump Administration review and approve the final draft, EPA will announce the final rule and publish it in the Federal Register.
