Regulatory Announcement

Modification of Fuels Regulations 

Regarding Baselines for Conventional 

Gasoline Produced or Imported for 

Use in Hawaii, Alaska, and U.S. 

Territories 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing modifications to fuels regulations to allow refiners and importers of conventional gasoline produced or imported for use in Hawaii, Alaska, 

Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to petition EPA to change 

the way in which they calculate emissions from such gasoline. These 

calculations are for purposes of demonstrating compliance with the 

Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) program’s anti-dumping requirements 

and the toxics emissions performance requirements under the Mobile 

Source Air Toxics program. We are taking this action to address certain inconsistencies in the regulations. These inconsistencies might 

have the effect of requiring these refiners and importers to produce or 

import gasoline that is cleaner than that required under the Clean Air 

Act and that is required of refiners and importers of gasoline produced 

or imported for use in other parts of the country. 

Background 

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to establish rules requiring that gasoline sold in 

certain areas be reformulated to reduce vehicle emissions of toxic and ozone-forming 

compounds. The law also requires EPA to establish rules that would ensure that nonRFG, known as “conventional gasoline,” used in the rest of the country does not 

create more pollutants than gasoline produced or imported in 1990. EPA published 

regulations for the certification and enforcement of RFG, and regulations for 

conventional gasoline, in February 1994. In March 2001, EPA published the MSAT 

rule, which placed additional controls on air-toxics emissions for all gasoline. 

This final rule modifies the 1994 anti-dumping and 2001 MSAT regulations to allow 

refiners and importers that produce or import conventional gasoline for use in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to change the way that they 

calculate emissions from such gasoline for purposes of figuring their anti-dumping 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

EPA420-F-07-061 

October 2007 
Regulatory Announcement

and MSAT baselines and evaluating annual average emissions. Under the current regulations, in 

certain situations, refiners and importers that produce or import conventional gasoline for use in 

these areas are required to comply with a baseline emissions standard that was calculated using 

a different model than that required for calculating annual average emissions. As a result, some 

conventional gasoline produced or imported for use in these areas is subject to an inappropriate 

standard. This final rule addresses this inconsistency by allowing these refiners and importers 

the option to change their baselines to ones that were calculated using the same model as that 

required for tabulating annual average emissions. 

How will the regulations affect industry? 

This final rule provides an alternative compliance method for refiners and importers of conventional gasoline produced or imported for use in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. 

Virgin Islands that, under the current regulations, are required to produce or import gasoline 

that is actually cleaner than that required under the Clean Air Act. This rule will result in lower 

compliance costs and greater flexibility for these companies. 

What are the health and environmental benefits? 

This final rule provides an alternative compliance method for affected parties without 

compromising the environmental goals of the RFG program. Under this rule, even if all of 

the affected parties choose the new compliance method, the goals of the RFG program’s antidumping regulations and the toxics emissions performance requirements under the MSAT rule 

would be met. 

Where can I find more information? 

You can access documents related to the RFG anti-dumping provisions at: 

www.epa.gov/otaq/rfg_regs.htm 

and the toxics performance provisions at: 

www.epa.gov/otaq/toxics.htm 

For more information on this rule, please contact Marilyn Bennett at: 

bennett.marilyn@epa.gov 

202-343-9624 

or 

Marilyn Bennett 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency


Mailcode 6406J


1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW


Washington, DC 20460