Regulatory Announcement

Adding the Illinois portion of the 

St. Louis, Illinois-Missouri Ozone 

Nonattainment Area to the Federal 

Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) Program 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adopting regulations that extend the Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) Program to the Illinois portion of the St. Louis, Illinois-Missouri Ozone 

Nonattainment Area. 

Summary of the Final Rule 

This Final Rule responds to the Governor of Illinois’ July 10, 2006, request to have 

the Illinois portion of the St. Louis, Illinois-Missouri ozone nonattainment area opt 

into the Federal RFG program. Section 211(k)(6) of the Clean Air Act states that 

“[u]pon the application of the Governor of a State, the Administrator shall apply 

the prohibition’’ against the sale of conventional gasoline in any area of the State 

classified as marginal, moderate, serious, or severe for ozone. 

EPA consulted with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and evaluated the 

industry’s ability to meet the volumes necessary for implementation. Based on our 

evaluation of the appropriate lead time and start date(s), this Final Rule sets an 

effective start date for RFG (prohibition on the sale of a gasoline that is not RFG). 

The Agency will implement this prohibition for refiners and all other persons in 

the fuel distribution system other than retailers and wholesale purchaser-consumers 

on June 1, 2007. For retailers and wholesale purchaser-consumers, EPA’s final rule 

implements the prohibition on July 1, 2007. As of July 1, 2007 this area will be 

treated as a covered area for all purposes of the federal RFG program. 

Background 

The federal RFG program typically results in reductions in ozone-forming 

emissions and air toxics. Reductions in ozone precursors are environmentally 

significant because they lead to reductions in ozone formation, with the associated 

improvements in human health and welfare. Exposure to ground-level ozone 

(or smog) can cause respiratory problems, chest pain, and coughing and may 

worsen bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma. Animal studies suggest that longterm exposure (months to years) to ozone can damage lung tissue and may lead 

to chronic respiratory illness. Reductions in emissions of toxic air pollutants are 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

EPA420-F-07-040 

April 2007 
Regulatory Announcement

environmentally important because they carry significant benefits for human health and welfare 

primarily by reducing the number of cancer cases each year. 

Illinois EPA analyzed the emissions benefits which could be achieved by switching from 

conventional gasoline to RFG. Using the U.S. EPA’s MOBILE6a model, Illinois projected that 

by 2010 motor vehicle emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) could be reduced by 

5.4 percent and carbon monoxide by 2.2 percent. The use of RFG in the Metro-East area would 

also decrease benzene emissions by 75 tons per year, which equates to a 44 percent reduction 

from motor vehicles. On a total toxic emissions basis, the use of RFG would reduce emissions of 

the five primary motor vehicle related air toxics by 63 tons per year in 2010, a total percentage 

reduction of 23.5 percent. 

Under section 211(k)(6) of the Clean Air Act, the Administrator of EPA shall require the 

sale of reformulated gasoline (RFG) in an ozone nonattainment area classified as marginal, 

moderate, serious or severe upon the application of the Governor of the state in which the 

nonattainment area is located. EPA received an application July 10, 2006, from the Honorable 

Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor of the State of Illinois, for the Illinois portion of the St. Louis, 

Illinois-Missouri ozone nonattainment area to be included in the reformulated gasoline program. 

Although section 211(k)(6) provides EPA some discretion to establish the effective date for the 

application of RFG requirements in marginal, moderate, serious or severe ozone nonattainment 

areas subject to a Governor’s petition, and allows EPA to consider whether there is sufficient 

domestic capacity to produce RFG in establishing the effective date for such requirements, EPA 

does not have discretion to deny a Governor’s request. 

EPA believes the implementation dates adopted in this rule achieve a reasonable balance 

between requiring the earliest possible start dates to achieve air quality benefits in the Illinois 

portion of the St. Louis, Illinois-Missouri ozone nonattainment area and providing adequate 

lead time for industry to prepare for program implementation. These dates will provide 

environmental benefits by allowing East St. Louis to achieve VOC reduction benefits for most of 

the 2007 VOC control season. 

For More Information 

You can access documents on this final rule on EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

Web site at: 

www.epag.gov/otaq/rfg_regs.htm 

For further information on this rulemaking, please contact Kurt Gustafson at: 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency


Office of Transportation & Air Quality


1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW (6406J)


Washington, DC 20460


(202) 343-9219


E-mail: gustafson.kurt@epa.gov


Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

Federal Reformulated Gasoline Program