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INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST (ICR)

OMB-83 SUPPORTING STATEMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

OFFICE OF AIR & RADIATION

March 21, 2013

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Identification of the Information Collection

1(a) Title: Reformulated Gasoline Commingling Provisions

EPA Number: 2228.04

1(b) Short characterization:

With this information collection request (ICR), the Office of Air and Radiation 

(OAR) is seeking permission to accept notifications from gasoline retailers and wholesale 

purchaser-consumers related to commingling of ethanol blended and non-ethanol-blended 

reformulated gasoline (RFG) under §1513 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) and 

40 CFR § 80.78(a)(8)(ii)(B); and to provide for a compliance option whereby a retailer or 

wholesale purchaser-consumer may demonstrate compliance via test results under 

§ 80.78(a)(8)(iii)(A). These provisions are designed to grant compliance flexibility. 

Parties were first subject to this recordkeeping and reporting on June 1, 2006. We are 

requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve the renewal of this 

ICR and that it remain in effect 3 years from the approval date. 

Section 1513 of the EPAct addresses the combining of ethanol-blended RFG with 

non-ethanol-blended RFG. This provision amended the Clean Air Act (CAA) to add a 

new § 211(s) providing retail outlets two ten-day opportunities during a single VOCcontrol season to blend batches of ethanol-blended and non-ethanol- blended RFG. 

Under this new section, retail outlets are allowed to sell non-ethanol-blended RFG which 

has been combined with ethanol blended RFG under certain conditions:

 First, each batch of gasoline to be blended must have been “individually certified 

as in compliance with subsections (h) and (k) [of CAA § 211] prior to being 

blended.”
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 Second, the retailer must notify EPA prior to combining the gasolines and identify

the exact location of the retail outlet and specific tank in which the gasoline is to 

be combined.

 Third, the retailer must retain, and, upon request by EPA, make available for 

inspection, certifications accounting for all gasoline at the retail outlet. (This 

information is normally kept in the normal course of business and we believe 

retaining it is a customary business practice (CBP).) 

 Fourth, retailers are prohibited from combining VOC-controlled gasoline with 

non-VOC-controlled gasoline between June 1 and September 15. 

To provide assurance that gasoline is in compliance with the downstream VOC 

standard after the ten-day period, EPA issued a direct final rule that amended 40 CFR 

Part 80 to address commingling (71 FR 8973, February 22, 2006). There are two options 

available for retailers and wholesale purchaser-consumers. Under the first option, the 

retailer may add both ethanol-blended RFG and non-ethanol-blended RFG to the same 

tank an unlimited number of times during the ten-day period, but must test the gasoline in 

the tank at the end of the ten-day period to make sure that the RFG is in compliance with 

the VOC standard. Under the second option, the retailer must draw the tank down as 

much as practicable at the start of the ten-day period, before RFG of another type is 

added to the tank, and add only RFG of one type to the tank during the ten-day period. 

Because there is a recordkeeping requirement associated with retail station test results 

under the first option, we have also calculated an estimated burden for that activity. We 

believe 5% or fewer of respondents will elect the testing option.

Retailers are also limited in the frequency with which batches of non-ethanol RFG 

may be combined with ethanol RFG. Retailers may combine such batches of RFG a 

maximum of two periods between May 1 and September 15. Each period may be no more 

than ten consecutive calendar days. 

2. Need For, and Use of, the Collection

1(a) Authority for the Collection

Sections 114 and 208 of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7414 and 7542, authorize EPA to 

require recordkeeping and reporting regarding enforcement of the provisions of Title II of 

the CAA. The relevant regulations are in 40 CFR Part 80, Regulation of Fuels and Fuel 

Additives. See §§ 80.78(a)(8)(ii)(B) and (iii)(A). 

2(b) Practical Utility/Uses of the Data
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The recordkeeping and reporting requirements of this regulation will allow EPA 

to monitor compliance with the commingling requirements of CAA § 211(s), as added by 

§ 1513 of the EPAct.

3. Non-duplication, Consultation, and other Collection Criteria

3(a) Non-duplication

Efforts have been made to eliminate duplication in this information collection. 

Where possible, information requirements from various organizations within the Agency

have been combined to minimize the submittal of duplicate information in different 

formats. The information in this collection will not be available from another source.

3(b) Public Notice

EPA will provide opportunity for notice and comment regarding this ICR.

3(c) Consultations

We have drawn upon our experience with similar fuels regulations and have 

utilized information available from the 2007 Economic Census for Retail Trade which 

stated there were 115,223 retail stations in 2007 to develop these estimates. The 

Economic Census is the official 5-year measure of American business. We have also 

utilized information available by the U.S. Census Bureau Fact Finder2 which supplied us 

with the number of wholesale purchaser-consumer facilities in the U.S. New results are 

not scheduled for release until December 2013. The results of the 2007 estimates are 

being used in this collection.

3(d) Effects of Less Frequent Data Collection

We very likely have over-estimated the burden because we have used a 

conservative approach that assumes all parties may respond twice annually (i.e., we have 

assumed the maximum number of responses). With regard to the testing option and 

retention of those records, we anticipate that 5% or fewer of respondents will be affected 

annually. Less frequent collection of data would make it impossible to carry out the 

provisions of the CAA and EPAct. 

3(e) General Guidelines

This rule does not exceed any of the OMB guidelines.
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3(f) Confidentiality

We inform respondents that they may assert claims of business confidentiality

(CBI) for any or all of the information they submit. We do not believe that most 

respondents would characterize the information they submit to us under this information 

collection as CBI. Because of this, we are permitting reporting via e-mail. However, any 

information claimed as confidential will be treated in accordance with 40 CFR Part 2 and 

established Agency procedures. Information that is received without a claim of 

confidentiality may be made available to the public without further notice to the 

submitter under 40 CFR § 2.203.

3(g) Sensitive Information

This information collection does not require submission of any sensitive 

information.

4. The Respondents and the Information Requested

4(a) Respondents with NAICS/SIC Codes

The respondents to this information collection are:

 Retailers (including wholesale purchaser-consumers)

Recordkeeping and reporting may be required by the following industries, with 

2002 NAICS Code indicated in parentheses: 

 Gasoline stations (447)

 Gasoline stations with convenience stores (447110)

 Gasoline stations without convenience stores (447190)

4(b) Information Requested

4(i) Reporting: Respondents who use the notification option will be 

sending a very simple report that could take the form of a short e-mail or similar 

communication. No form is to be developed, although we may consider developing a 

simple web based reporting interface for submission of the information, if that option is 

desired by the respondent community. 
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4(ii) Recordkeeping: Under the testing option, respondents must retain 

underlying records related to results of any tests they perform for five years. We 

anticipate that 5% or fewer respondents will choose the testing option. The burden of 

retaining the testing results record is small. 

5. The Information Collected, Agency Activities, Collection Methodology, and 

Information Management

5(a) Agency Activities

 All notifications will be reviewed by EPA. (Test results will be shown to 

EPA field compliance and enforcement personnel upon request.)

 Notifications will be stored by EPA.

5(b) Collection Methodology and Management

Data will be collected by industry and reported to EPA in the form of a simple email that identifies the service station and its address and identifies the tank where 

commingling will occur. As mentioned above, we do not anticipate that this information 

will come in under a CBI claim; however, that is a possibility and we will treat all such 

information in accordance with 40 CFR Part 2 and established Agency procedures for 

handling CBI. Information claimed as CBI will be stored in appropriately controlled 

areas.

5(c) Small Entity Flexibility

This collection will not adversely affect small entities. The whole purpose of the 

commingling provision of the EPAct is to provide flexibility. The actual estimated 

annual burden for a typical respondent who submits up to two notifications per year is 

$17.00 and 0.50 hours (30 minutes) annually.

5(d) Collection Schedule

We anticipate that notifications will be submitted no more than twice per year.

6. Estimating the Burden and Cost of Collection

6(a) Estimating the Respondent Burden

We drew upon experience implementing similar regulations among the same 

entities to develop estimates of the burden associated with this collection. We consulted 

the 2008 Economic Census for Retail Trade to assist us in estimating the total number of 

retail stations. Since the Economic Census for Retail Trade provided a nationwide 
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estimate of 115,2231, we assumed 30% of that number for stations in RFG areas (since 

30% of the gasoline market nationwide is RFG). The number used for stations in the RFG 

area will be 34,566.9 rounded up for ease of use (35,000). Although imperfect, we 

believe this is a reasonable estimate, and have applied similar logic in estimating the 

number of wholesale purchaser-consumers. The 2007 Census Bureau Fact Finder2 

reported that there are 20,202 wholesale purchaser-consumer facilities handling 

petroleum product.2 For purposes of this ICR, we are multiplying this number by 0.30 to 

yield 6060.9 facilities. Adding our estimate of the number of retailers (35,000) and the 

number of wholesale purchaser-consumers 6060.9 rounded to (6,000) for ease of use

gives us a collection of 41,000 respondents. We believe this number to be on the high 

side in estimating actual respondents, but it does provide a reasonable benchmark. 

6(b) Estimating the Respondent Burden and Cost

We used the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), May 2011 National IndustrySpecific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates applicable to “NAICS 44710 –

Gasoline Stations,” as the basis for our estimates.3 We used the mean hourly salary for a 

first-line supervisor/manager of retail sales workers ($16.53), rounded this up to the next 

whole dollar amount ($17.00), and doubled for company overhead beyond wages and 

benefits. This yields an estimated hourly cost of $34.00. There is no capitol and 

maintenance cost associated with this collection.

 

1

2007 Economic Census for retail trade at http://www.census.gov/econ/industry/current/c4471.htm

2

2007 U.S. Economic Census Bureau Fact Finder2 

http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2007_US_00A1&

prodType=table

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 “May 2011 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates: NAICS 44710 –

Gasoline Stations;” Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), under section sales and related occupations at

http://www.bls.gov/oes/2008/may/naics4_447100.htm, accessed March 13, 2013.
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Table 1. Respondent Burden Hours & Costs (Including Capital & Maintenance - O&M)

Collection 

Activity

Number of

Respondents

Number of

Responses

per

Respondent

Total Number of 

Responses

Hours per 

Response

& Cost per

Response

Total Hours

&

Total Cost 

@ $17/hour

Total O&M

Prepare and 

Submit 

Notification

41,000 2 82000 0.25

-----

$4.25

20,500 hours

------

$348,500

0

Maintain

Test

Results 

Documents

(assumes

5% of 

respondents test)

2,050 1 2050 0.25

-----

$4.25

513 hours

------

$8712.50

0

Total 43,050 

respondents -----------

84,050

responses -----------

21,013 hours

------

$357,221

0

 
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6(c) Estimating the Agency Burden and Cost

No response is required to notifications unless a potential violation is noted. This 

activity will present no significant, quantifiable burden to the Agency. 

6(d) Estimating the Respondent Universe

We were able to estimate the number of regulated entities drawing upon 

experience regulating the same entities and through the use of business and industry

economic statistics. We consulted the 2008 Economic Census for Retail Trade to assist us 

in estimating the total number of retail stations and the 2008 Census Bureau Fact Finder2 

to assist in estimating the number of wholesale purchaser-consumer facilities handling 

petroleum product.

6(e) Bottom Line Burden Hours and Costs

From Table 1 we estimate the following:

TOTAL NO. OF REPORTS: 84,050

TOTAL BURDEN HOURS: 21,013

TOTAL COST: $357,221

6(f) Reason for Change in Burden

The change in burden from the prior ICR is due in part to better numbers 

extracted from business and industry economic statistics that assisted in calculating the 

numbers of respondents. These better numbers reduced the party size by 13,650 

members. The number of responses also declined from 110,700 to 84,050 a difference of 

26,650 reports which reduced the industry burden hours from 27,675 to 21,013. We also 

found that the original cost per response was overstated by a factor of 2. With the decline 

of respondents, burden hours and responses, and revisit cost per response, the cost to 

renew this ICR is $357,221 a difference of $528,379 calculated from the prior collection 

approved by OMB. 

6(g) Burden Statement

The average respondent burden in hours per response for this ICR is estimated at 

0.25 hours (15 minutes).

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 The average annual respondent burden in hours for this ICR is 

estimated at 0.50 hours (30 minutes).

 

4 The average respondent burden per response is the total number of hours divided by the total number of 

responses from Table 1, rounded up for simplicity. 
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Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to 

generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. 

This includes the time needed to review the instructions; develop, acquire, install, and 

utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying 

information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing 

information; adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable 

instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of 

information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of information; and 

transit or otherwise disclose the information. 

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. The 

OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR Part 9 and 48 CFR 

Chapter 15.

Send comments on the Agency’s need for this information, the accuracy of the 

provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent 

burden, including through the use of automated collection techniques to the Director, 

OPPE Regulatory Information Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2137) 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC; and to the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management of Budget, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, 

DC 20503, Attention, Desk Officer for EPA. Be sure to include the EPA ICR number 

(2228.04) in correspondence.