Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 169 / Thursday, August 30, 2012 / Notices 52715 

888 First St. NE., Washington, DC 

20426. 

The filings in the above proceedings 

are accessible in the Commission’s 

eLibrary system by clicking on the 

appropriate link in the above list. They 

are also available for review in the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room in 

Washington, DC. There is an 

eSubscription link on the Web site that 

enables subscribers to receive email 

notification when a document is added 

to a subscribed docket(s). For assistance 

with any FERC Online service, please 

email FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or 

call (866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, 

call (202) 502–8659. 

Comment Date: 5 p.m. Eastern Time 

on August 31, 2012. 

Dated: August 23, 2012. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–21438 Filed 8–29–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2012–0632; FRL—9721–7] 

Request for Comment on Letters 

Seeking a Waiver of the Renewable 

Fuel Standard 

Correction 

Editorial Note: Notice document 12–21066 

was inadvertently omitted from the issue of 

Monday, August 27, 2012. It is being printed 

in its entirety in today’s issue. 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: EPA is seeking comment on 

letters requesting a waiver of the 

renewable fuel standard and matters 

relevant to EPA’s consideration of those 

requests. Governors of the States of 

Arkansas and North Carolina submitted 

separate requests for a waiver. Section 

211(o)(7)(A) of the Clean Air Act allows 

the Administrator of the EPA to waive 

the national volume requirements of the 

renewable fuel standard program in 

whole or in part if implementation of 

those requirements would severely 

harm the economy or environment of a 

State, a region, or the United States, or 

if the Administrator determines that 

there is inadequate domestic supply of 

renewable fuel. 

DATES: Comments. Written comments 

must be received on or before 

September 26, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OAR–2012–0632, by one of the 

following methods: 

• www.regulations.gov: Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Email: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov. 

• Fax: (202) 566–1741. 

• Mail: Air and Radiation Docket, 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2012– 

0632, Environmental Protection Agency, 

Mailcode: 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460. 

Please include a total of two copies. 

• Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, 

Public Reading Room, EPA West 

Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460. 

Such deliveries are only accepted 

during the Docket’s normal hours of 

operation, and special arrangements 

should be made for deliveries of boxed 

information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2012– 

0632. EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 

docket without change and may be 

made available online at 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided, unless 

the comment includes information 

claimed to be Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Do not submit information that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected through www.regulations.gov 

or email. The www.regulations.gov Web 

site is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, 

which means EPA will not know your 

identity or contact information unless 

you provide it in the body of your 

comment. If you send an email 

comment directly to EPA without going 

through www.regulations.gov, your 

email address will be automatically 

captured and included as part of the 

comment that is placed in the public 

docket and made available on the 

Internet. If you submit an electronic 

comment, EPA recommends that you 

include your name and other contact 

information in the body of your 

comment and with any disk or CD–ROM 

you submit. If EPA cannot read your 

comment due to technical difficulties 

and cannot contact you for clarification, 

EPA may not be able to consider your 

comment. Electronic files should avoid 

the use of special characters, any form 

of encryption, and be free of any defects 

or viruses. For additional information 

about EPA’s public docket visit the EPA 

Docket Center homepage at http:// 

www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Dallas Burkholder, Office of 

Transportation and Air Quality, 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions 

Laboratory, 2565 Plymouth Road, Ann 

Arbor, MI 48105; telephone number: 

(734) 214–4766; fax number: (734) 214– 

4050; email address: 

burkholder.dallas@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. How can I access the docket and/or 

submit comments? 

EPA has established a public docket 

for this Notice under Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–OAR–2012–0632 which is 

available for online viewing at 

www.regulations.gov, or in person 

viewing at the EPA/DC Docket Center 

Public Reading Room, 1301 Constitution 

Avenue NW., Room 3334, Washington, 

DC. The EPA/DC Public Reading Room 

is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The telephone number for the 

Reading Room is 202–566–1744, and the 

telephone number for the Air and 

Radiation Docket is 202–566–1742. 

Use www.regulations.gov to obtain a 

copy of the waiver requests, submit or 

view public comments, access the index 

listing of the contents of the docket, and 

to access those documents in the public 

docket that are available electronically. 

Once in the system, select ‘‘search,’’ 

then key in the docket ID number 

identified in this document. 

II. Background 

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) 

program began in 2006 pursuant to the 

Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct), 

which added provisions in section 

211(o) of the Clean Air Act (CAA, or 

‘‘Act’’), for a renewable fuel program, 

commonly referred to as RFS1. The 

statutory provisions for the RFS 

program were subsequently modified 

through the Energy Independence and 

Security Act of 2007 (EISA), and EPA 

published revised regulatory 

requirements on March 26, 2010 (75 FR 

14670) (referred to as RFS2). The 

transition from the RFS1 requirements 

of EPAct to the RFS2 requirements of 

EISA generally occurred on July 1, 2010. 

EISA establishes annual national 

renewable fuel volumes required 

through 2022 for four categories of 

renewable fuel: cellulosic biofuel, 

biomass based diesel, advanced biofuel, 

and total renewable fuel. Though EISA 

establishes a schedule of increasing 

national volume mandates over time, it 

also requires the Administrator to set 

the specific volume requirements for 

refiners and importers annually. The 

applicable volume standards under the 

RFS program for the 2012 compliance 

year were published in the Federal 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

52716 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 169 / Thursday, August 30, 2012 / Notices 

Register on January 9, 2012 (77 FR 

1320). 

Under the RFS program, obligated 

parties, typically gasoline or diesel 

refiners or importers, are required to 

meet specific applicable percentage 

standards to be in compliance. 

Renewable identification numbers, or 

RINs, are assigned by the renewable fuel 

producer to each gallon of qualifying 

renewable fuel and serve as a means for 

demonstrating compliance by the 

obligated parties. Aside from using 

sufficient current-year RINs to 

demonstrate compliance in a given year, 

obligated parties may also choose (a) to 

use available RINs from the prior year 

towards the current year’s requirement, 

up to a 20 percent cap, and/or (b) to 

carry forward a deficit into the next 

compliance year. 

Section 211(o)(7) of the Act allows the 

Administrator, in consultation with the 

Secretary of Agriculture and the 

Secretary of Energy, to waive the 

national volume requirements of the 

RFS, 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 her 

own motion. A waiver may be issued if 

the Administrator determines, after 

public notice and opportunity for 

comment, that implementation of the 

RFS volume requirement would 

severely harm the economy or 

environment of a State, a region, or the 

United States, or that there is an 

inadequate domestic supply. If a waiver 

is granted, it can last no longer than one 

year but may be renewed by the 

Administrator after consultation with 

the Secretary of Agriculture and the 

Secretary of Energy. 

III. What is today’s action? 

Governors of the States of Arkansas 

and North Carolina submitted separate 

letters requesting a waiver of required 

volumes of renewable fuel under the 

RFS program. EPA is seeking comment 

on the requests and matters relevant to 

EPA’s consideration of the requests. 

Section 211(o) of the Act requires the 

Administrator, in consultation with the 

Secretary of Agriculture and the 

Secretary of Energy, to approve or 

disapprove a petition for a waiver of the 

RFS volume requirements within 90 

days after the date on which the petition 

is received by the Administrator. 

The Governor of Arkansas submitted 

a letter dated August 13, 2012 

requesting EPA ‘‘waive an appropriate 

volume of renewable fuel, pursuant to 

Section 211(o)(7)’’ of the Act. The letter 

includes statements regarding this year’s 

drought, crop price increases, and 

impacts in various economic sectors, 

including the poultry and cattle sectors. 

The letter submitted by the Governor of 

North Carolina, dated August 14, 2012, 

requests that ‘‘the applicable volume of 

renewable fuel be waived’’ under the 

Act and also includes statements 

regarding drought conditions in the 

United States and economic impacts in 

the State. 

Other organizations and individuals— 

including among others the Governors 

of the States of Delaware and Maryland, 

the National Pork Producers Council, 

the Dairy Farmers of America, and 

various Members of Congress—have 

also submitted letters either requesting 

the Administrator utilize her authority 

to waive RFS volume requirements or 

expressing support for the granting of a 

volume waiver. All of these letters are 

available in the docket; any additional 

similar requests submitted to EPA will 

also be docketed and considered 

together with requests already received. 

EPA is issuing this notice to solicit 

comments and information on the 

waiver requests, and the views of the 

public on whether the statutory basis for 

a waiver of the national RFS 

requirements has been met and, if so, 

whether EPA should exercise its 

discretion to grant a waiver. 

IV. Has EPA received RFS waiver 

requests in the past? 

In 2008, the Governor of the State of 

Texas requested a fifty percent waiver of 

the national volume requirements for 

the RFS. EPA denied Texas’ waiver 

request because the evidence in that 

case did not support a determination 

that implementation of the RFS mandate 

during the time period at issue 

(September 1, 2008 through August 31, 

2009) would have severely harmed the 

economy of a State, region, or the 

United States (73 FR 47168, August 13, 

2008). EPA’s 2008 denial of a waiver 

discusses the analytical approach used 

to make the determination, our legal 

interpretation of the relevant statutory 

language, and other information that 

may be useful to commenters. It also 

provides additional discussion of the 

types of information we would expect in 

a waiver request. 

EPA’s determination in response to 

Texas’ waiver request was supported by 

technical analysis conducted using a 

model developed by researchers at Iowa 

State University (ISU). The 2008 

analysis evaluated the impact of a 

waiver of the volume standard by 

comparing the circumstances with and 

without a waiver, to identify the impact 

associated with implementation of the 

RFS program in the relevant time 

period. The 2008 Texas waiver 

determination discusses the reasons 

EPA utilized the ISU model and 

provides a brief description of how it 

operates. 

The 2008 Texas waiver determination 

was the first EPA action in response to 

a petition under 211(o)(7) of the Act, 

and as a result the 2008 decision 

addresses a number of questions 

regarding the scope of that authority. 

This includes a discussion of how EPA 

interpreted the provision’s language 

regarding severe economic harm. We 

encourage interested parties to review 

that discussion and provide comment 

on our interpretation in the context of 

the 2012 waiver requests. 

V. What specific information is EPA 

seeking? 

EPA requests comment on any matter 

that might be relevant to EPA’s review 

of and actions in response to the 

requests, specifically including (but not 

limited to) information on: 

(a) Whether compliance with the RFS 

would severely harm the economy of 

Arkansas, North Carolina, other States, 

a region, or the United States; 

(b) whether the relief requested will 

remedy the harm; 

(c) to what extent, if any, a waiver 

would change demand for ethanol and 

affect prices of corn, other feedstocks, 

feed, and food; 

(d) the amount of ethanol that is likely 

to be consumed in the U.S. during the 

relevant time period, based on its value 

to refiners for octane and other 

characteristics and other market 

conditions in the absence of the RFS 

volume requirements; and 

(e) if a waiver were appropriate, the 

amount of required renewable fuel 

volume appropriate to waive, the date 

on which any waiver should commence 

and end, and to which compliance years 

it would apply. 

Commenters should include data or 

specific examples in support of their 

comments in order to aid the 

Administrator in evaluating the requests 

for a waiver and determining what 

action if any is appropriate in light of all 

of the circumstances. 

Dated: August 20, 2012. 

Gina McCarthy, 

Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and 

Radiation. 

Editorial Note: Notice document 2012– 

21066 was inadvertently omitted from the 

issue of Monday, August 27, 2012. It is being 

printed in its entirety in today’s issue. 

[FR Doc. C1–2012–21066 Filed 8–29–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1505–01–D 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES