5182 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Notices 

email of new filings and issuances 

related to this or other pending projects. 

For assistance, call 1–866–208–3676 or 

email FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, for 

TTY, call (202) 502–8659. Agencies may 

obtain copies of the application directly 

from the applicant. 

m. Individuals desiring to be included 

on the Commission’s mailing list should 

so indicate by writing to the Secretary 

of the Commission. 

n. Comments, Protests, or Motions to 

Intervene: Anyone may submit 

comments, a protest, or a motion to 

intervene in accordance with the 

requirements of Rules of Practice and 

Procedure, 18 CFR 385.210, .211, .214, 

respectively. In determining the 

appropriate action to take, the 

Commission will consider all protests or 

other comments filed, but only those 

who file a motion to intervene in 

accordance with the Commission’s 

Rules may become a party to the 

proceeding. Any comments, protests, or 

motions to intervene must be received 

on or before the specified comment date 

for the particular application. 

o. Filing and Service of Documents: 

Any filing must (1) bear in all capital 

letters the title COMMENTS, PROTEST, 

or MOTION TO INTERVENE as 

applicable; (2) set forth in the heading 

the name of the applicant and the 

project number of the application to 

which the filing responds; (3) furnish 

the name, address, and telephone 

number of the person commenting, 

protesting or intervening; and (4) 

otherwise comply with the requirements 

of 18 CFR 385.2001 through 385.2005. 

All comments, motions to intervene, or 

protests must set forth their evidentiary 

basis. Any filing made by an intervenor 

must be accompanied by proof of 

service on all persons listed in the 

service list prepared by the Commission 

in this proceeding, in accordance with 

18 CFR 385.2010. 

Dated: January 12, 2021. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–01034 Filed 1–15–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 13–039] 

Green Island Power Authority and 

Albany Engineering Corporation; 

Notice of Availability of Environmental 

Assessment 

In accordance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and 

the Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission’s (Commission) 

regulations, 18 CFR part 380, the Office 

of Energy Projects has reviewed an 

application submitted by Green Island 

Power Authority and Albany 

Engineering Corporation to amend its 

Green Island Hydroelectric Project 

license (FERC No. 13) and has prepared 

an environmental assessment (EA) for 

the project. The Green Island Project is 

located at the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers (Corps) Green Island-Troy 

Lock and Dam on the Hudson River in 

Albany County, New York. The project 

occupies federal land under the 

jurisdiction of the Corps. 

The EA contains staff’s analysis of the 

potential environmental effects of the 

proposed action and concludes that 

approval of the amendment application, 

with appropriate environmental 

measures, would not constitute a major 

federal action significantly affecting the 

quality of the human environment. 

The EA may be viewed on the 

Commission’s website at http://

www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link. 

Enter the docket number excluding the 

last three digits in the docket number 

field to access the document. For 

assistance, contact FERC Online 

Support at FERCOnlineSupport@

ferc.gov, (866) 208–3676 (toll free), or 

(202) 502–8659 (TTY). At this time, the 

Commission has suspended access to 

the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room, due to the proclamation 

declaring a National Emergency 

concerning the Novel Coronavirus 

Disease (COVID–19), issued by the 

President on March 13, 2020. 

You may also register online at http:// 

www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ 

esubscription.asp to be notified via 

email of new filings and issuances 

related to this or other pending projects. 

For assistance, contact FERC Online 

Support. 

Any comments should be filed within 

30 days from the date of this notice. 

The Commission strongly encourages 

electronic filing. Please file comments 

using the Commission’s eFiling system 

at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ 

efiling.asp. Commenters can submit 

brief comments up to 6,000 characters, 

without prior registration, using the 

eComment system at http://

www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ 

ecomment.asp. You must include your 

name and contact information at the end 

of your comments. For assistance, 

please contact FERC Online Support. In 

lieu of electronic filing, you may submit 

a paper copy. Submissions sent via the 

U.S. Postal Service must be addressed 

to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 

First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, 

DC 20426. Submissions sent via any 

other carrier must be addressed to: 

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 

Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 

20852. The first page of any filing 

should include docket number P–13– 

039. 

For further information, contact 

Joseph Enrico at (212) 273–5917 or by 

email at joseph.enrico@ferc.gov. 

Dated: January 12, 2021. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–01037 Filed 1–15–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2020–0322; FRL–10011–04– 

OAR] 

Notice of Receipt of Petitions for a 

Waiver of the 2019 and 2020 

Renewable Fuel Standards 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Request for comment on 

petitions received. 

SUMMARY: EPA has received a number of 

petitions last year for a waiver of the 

Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) 

obligations that apply in 2019 and 2020. 

These petitions argue that recent events 

warrant EPA exercising its general 

waiver authority on the basis of severe 

economic harm. In late March, a group 

of small refineries requested a waiver of 

the 2019 and 2020 obligations of their 

individual small refineries. In April and 

May, the Governors of several states 

submitted three separate petitions for 

waivers of the nationwide volumes. The 

Clean Air Act grants EPA the discretion 

to waive the requirements of the RFS 

program in whole or in part if the 

Administrator determines, after notice 

and comment, that implementation of 

the applicable annual volume 

requirements would severely harm the 

economy or environment of a State, 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Notices 5183 

1 75 FR 14670, March 26, 2010. 

2Pub. L. 110–140, 121 Stat. 1492 (2007) (‘‘EISA’’). 

3 83 FR 63704. 

4 85 FR 7016. 

5See 73 FR 47168 (August 13, 2008) and 77 FR 

70752 (November 27, 2012). 

6See, e.g., Renewable Fuel Standard Program— 

Standards for 2020 and Biomass-Based Diesel 

Volume for 2021 and Other Changes: Response to 

Comments, EPA–420–R–19–018; see also American 

Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers v. EPA, 937 

F.3d 559, 580 (D.C. Cir. 2019) (upholding EPA’s 

interpretation of the severe economic harm waiver 

authority in the 2018 RFS rulemaking). 

region, or the United States. EPA is 

inviting comment on the petitions we 

have received. 

DATES: Comments: Comments must be 

received on or before February 18, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may send your 

comments, identified by Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–OAR–2020–0322, by any of 

the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov (our preferred 

method) Follow the online instructions 

for submitting comments. 

• Email: a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov. 

Include Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR– 

2020–0322 in the subject line of the 

message. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the Docket ID No. for this 

rulemaking. Comments received may be 

posted without change to https://

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. For the 

full EPA public comment policy, 

information about CBI or multimedia 

submissions, and general guidance on 

making effective comments, please visit 

http://www.epa.gov/dockets/ 

commenting-epa-dockets. 

Out of an abundance of caution for 

members of the public and our staff, the 

EPA Docket Center and Reading Room 

will be closed to public visitors 

beginning at the close of business on 

March 31, 2020 (4:30 p.m.) to reduce the 

risk of transmitting COVID–19. Our 

Docket Center staff will continue to 

provide remote customer service via 

email, phone, and webform. We 

encourage the public to submit 

comments via https://

www.regulations.gov or email, as there 

will be a delay in process mail and no 

hand deliveries will be accepted. For 

further information on EPA Docket 

Center services, please visit us online at 

https://www.epa.gov/dockets. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lauren Michaels, Office of 

Transportation and Air Quality, 

Assessment and Standards Division, 

Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 

Traverwood Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 

48105; telephone number: (734) 214– 

4640; email address: michaels.lauren@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) 

program began in 2006 pursuant to the 

requirements in Clean Air Act (CAA) 

section 211(o) that were added through 

the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). 

The statutory requirements for the RFS 

program were subsequently modified 

through the Energy Independence and 

Security Act of 2007 (EISA), leading to 

the publication of major revisions to the 

regulatory requirements on March 26, 

2010.1 EISA’s stated goals include 

moving the United States (U.S.) toward 

‘‘greater energy independence and 

security [and] increas[ing] the 

production of clean renewable fuels.’’ 2

The statute includes annual volume 

targets and requires EPA to translate 

those volume targets (or alternative 

volume requirements established by 

EPA in accordance with statutory 

waiver authorities) into compliance 

obligations that obligated parties must 

meet every year. EPA promulgated a 

rulemaking establishing the RFS volume 

obligations for 2019 that was published 

in the Federal Register on December 11, 

2018.3 EPA promulgated a rulemaking 

establishing the RFS volume obligations 

for 2020 that was published in the 

Federal Register on February 6, 2020.4

In those rulemakings, EPA waived the 

statutory volumes for cellulosic biofuel, 

advanced biofuel, and total renewable 

fuel utilizing EPA’s cellulosic waiver 

authority; determined the biomassbased diesel volume for the subsequent 

year; and established annual percentage 

standards for obligated parties. Under 

the RFS program, obligated parties, 

typically gasoline or diesel refiners or 

importers, are required to meet annual 

percentage standards to be in 

compliance. 

Section 211(o)(7)(A) of the CAA 

provides the Administrator the 

discretion to waive the national quantity 

of renewable fuel required under the 

RFS program, in whole or in part, upon 

petition by one or more States, or by any 

party subject to the requirements of the 

RFS program. The Administrator may 

also waive the volume requirements on 

his own motion. The Administrator may 

do so only after consultation with the 

Secretary of Agriculture and the 

Secretary of Energy, and after public 

notice and opportunity for comment. A 

waiver may be issued if the 

Administrator determines that 

implementation of the RFS volume 

requirement would severely harm the 

economy or environment of a State, 

region, or the United States, or that 

there is an inadequate domestic supply. 

EPA has previously interpreted this 

waiver authority in prior denials of 

requests for a waiver of the RFS volume 

requirements 5 and in annual 

rulemakings.6

II. Petitions Before the Agency 

Last year EPA received several 

petitions from a group of small 

refineries and several states seeking a 

waiver under CAA section 211(o)(7)(A) 

on the basis of severe economic harm. 

These petitions are described below. 

A group of small refineries submitted 

a petition to the Administrator, dated 

March 30, 2020, requesting a waiver of 

the 2019 and 2020 RFS obligations. 

These parties seek a waiver of their 

individual renewable volume 

obligations (RVOs). They argue that EPA 

must grant the waiver under CAA 

section 211(o)(7)(A) to avoid severe 

economic harm to the States and regions 

in which they operate. The petition 

argues that the harm to their individual 

small refineries is caused by the 

coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing 

drop in transportation fuel demand; the 

court decision in Renewable Fuels 

Association v. EPA, 948 F.3d 1206, 

(10th Cir. 2020) (RFA), if the decision is 

implemented nationwide; and a rise in 

RIN prices. The petition also puts forth 

a new legal interpretation allowing EPA 

to waive individual obligations under 

the general waiver authority; EPA’s 

prior interpretations of the general 

waiver authority only allowed a 

reduction in the nationwide volume 

requirements. EPA also received a 

petition from a single small refinery, 

dated December 30, 2020, requesting a 

waiver of its 2019 and 2020 RFS 

obligations. This petition provided 

similar justifications as the above 

described petition. 

Subsequently, several Governors 

submitted three separate petitions under 

CAA section 211(o)(7)(A) on the basis of 

severe economic harm. These petitions 

ask EPA to lower the nationwide 

renewable volume obligations. They 

argue that reduced gasoline and diesel 

demand due to the coronavirus 

pandemic has harmed refiners, and that 

the 2020 RFS volume requirements are 

and will continue to inflict further harm 

on these parties. Specifically, the 

Governor of Louisiana submitted a 

petition to the Administrator, dated 

April 7, 2020, seeking a waiver of the 

RFS obligations by an amount 

commensurate with the current 

projected shortfall in national gasoline 

and diesel consumption. The Governors 

of Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and 

Wyoming submitted a single similar 

petition, dated April 15, 2020; unlike 


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5184 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Notices 

7See 73 FR 47168 (August 13, 2008) and 77 FR 

70752 (November 27, 2012). 

8See Nat’l Mining Ass’n v. United States Dep’t of 

the Interior, 70 F.3d 1345, 1351 (D.C. Cir. 1995) 

(‘‘The decision to publish a petition for rulemaking 

. . . is not evidence of a reexamination of the 

policy at issue in the petition.’’); P & V Enterprises 

v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 516 F.3d 1021, 

1026 (D.C. Cir. 2008) (‘‘an agency must be able to 

initiate a public dialogue without inadvertently 

reopening established precedent, or its 

communications with the public would be 

unnecessarily stifled’’). 

9For example, we are not soliciting comment on 

EPA’s small refinery exemption policy, the point of 

obligation, the generation of RINs for exported fuel, 

or any other issue beyond those discrete issues 

raised by the petitions and the NWF letter. 

the Louisiana petition, this petition does 

not specify the volume that should be 

waived. 

Finally, the Governor of Pennsylvania 

submitted a similar petition on May 11, 

2020, seeking a waiver of the RFS 

volume requirements. The Pennsylvania 

petition alleges that increasing annual 

RFS volume obligations severely 

harmed Pennsylvania and the East Coast 

region, and that such harm was 

compounded both by the Tenth Circuit’s 

RFA decision, and the coronavirus 

pandemic and ensuing fall in gasoline 

and diesel demand. 

Several organizations and individuals, 

including the environmental group 

National Wildlife Federation (NWF), 

and Members of Congress, have 

submitted letters expressing support for 

the granting of a waiver. Other 

organizations and individuals, 

including the Renewable Fuels 

Association and various mayors, have 

submitted letters expressing opposition 

to the granting of a waiver. These 

petitions and related letters are available 

in the docket for this action. Should we 

receive additional petitions and letters, 

we will also add those petitions and 

letters to the docket and consider them 

together with requests already received. 

We encourage commenters to carefully 

review both the petitions and the letters 

in the docket in formulating their 

comments. 

EPA is seeking comment on the 

above-described petitions and the 

discrete issues the petitions raise, 

including: 

• In general, whether the petitioners 

have satisfied the criteria for granting a 

waiver that EPA previously set forth 

and/or whether EPA should modify 

those criteria as requested by the 

petitioners; 7

• Whether the petitioners have 

demonstrated severe economic harm to 

a State, a region, or the United States; 

• Whether the petitioners have 

demonstrated a sufficient causal nexus 

between the RFS volume requirements 

and such harm (including whether that 

nexus is actual causation, significant 

contribution, or some other 

relationship); 

• Whether the petitioners have 

accurately assessed the impacts of a 

waiver on other directly and indirectly 

affected persons (including but not 

limited to biofuel producers, farmers, 

consumers of transportation fuel, and 

any affected petroleum refiners and 

importers), and how such impacts 

should affect EPA’s decision on the 

petitions; 

• Whether, as requested by the 

petition from the group of small 

refineries, EPA may target relief to 

certain refineries under the general 

waiver authority; and 

• Ultimately, whether EPA should 

exercise the general waiver authority in 

response to any of the petitions. If the 

commenter believes EPA should waive 

volumes, we ask that the commenter 

identify the specific obligation that 

should be waived (e.g., the 2019 or 2020 

RFS volume obligations), the amount of 

the waiver, and any other details of the 

remedy desired. 

We strongly encourage commenters to 

include data, specific supporting 

examples, and technical analysis, to the 

extent feasible. 

EPA also received a letter from the 

National Wildlife Federation suggesting 

that relief could be granted on the basis 

of severe environmental harm. The 

NWF letter suggests there is evidence of 

environmental harm due to land 

conversion to cropland resulting in 

habitat loss and climate change, 

agricultural runoff and resulting water 

quality impacts, an increase in water 

use to irrigate crop fields, and 

increasing smog and corresponding 

impacts on air quality due to increasing 

ethanol content in gasoline. We also 

solicit comment on the discrete issues 

raised by this letter and whether the 

evidence presented in the letter would 

support a waiver on the basis of severe 

environmental harm. 

EPA is publishing and seeking 

comment on these petitions to foster 

public dialogue on these issues and to 

inform our future decision-making. At 

this time, we are not reconsidering or 

otherwise reexamining the 2019 or 2020 

RFS rulemakings or any other prior 

action,8 or soliciting comment on any 

issues beyond those specifically raised 

by the petitions and the NWF letter in 

support.9 We are also not proposing to 

either grant or to deny any of the 

petitions. 

Dated: January 7, 2021. 

Anne L. Austin, 

Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, 

Office of Air and Radiation. 

[FR Doc. 2021–01017 Filed 1–15–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2020–0579; FRL–10018–63– 

OAR ] 

Proposed Information Collection 

Request; Comment Request; Mobile 

Air Conditioner Retrofitting Program 

(Renewal) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency is planning to submit an 

information collection request (ICR), 

‘‘Mobile Air Conditioner Retrofitting 

Program (Renewal)’’ (EPA ICR No. 

1774.08, OMB Control No. 2060–0350) 

to the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and approval in 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act. Before doing so, EPA is 

soliciting public comments on specific 

aspects of the proposed information 

collection as described below. This is a 

proposed extension of the ICR, which is 

currently approved through August 31, 

2021. An Agency may not conduct or 

sponsor and a person is not required to 

respond to a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before March 22, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

referencing Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OAR–2020–0579, online using https://

www.regulations.gov (our preferred 

method), or by email to a-and-r-docket@

epa.gov. Out of an abundance of caution 

for members of the public and our staff, 

the EPA Docket Center and Reading 

Room are closed to the public, with 

limited exceptions, to reduce the risk of 

transmitting COVID–19. Our Docket 

Center staff will continue to provide 

remote customer service via email, 

phone, and webform. We encourage the 

public to submit comments via https:// 

www.regulations.gov or email, as there 

may be a delay in processing mail and 

faxes. Hand deliveries and couriers may 

be received by scheduled appointment 

only. For further information on EPA 

Docket Center services and the current 

status, please visit us online at https:// 

www.epa.gov/dockets. 

EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 


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