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OAR Box 1846 

Prepped by Ollie Stewart 

Document Number: 

13) ll-C-1 

Docket Number: 

A-90-07 

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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

SEP 2 7 1990 

OFFICE OF 

AIR ANO RADIATION 

Douglas Durante 

Washington Representative 

Clean Fuels Development Coalition 

Air Rights Building 

7315 Wisconsin Ave. 

Suite 515 East Tower 

Bethesda, MD 20814 

Dear Mr. Durante: . 

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OCT 2 5 sO 

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This is in response to your September 4, 1990 letter 

requesting guidance regarding EPA's Advance Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking (ANPRM) on Fuel and Fuel Additive Registration (55 

FR 32218; August 7, 1990). In that letter you expressed 

concern about the potential impact on producers of ethanol, 

methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and ethyl tertiary butyl 

ether (ETBE). 

As you may know, currently under Section 211(b)(1) of the 

Clean Air Act (CAA), designated motor vehicle fuels and 

additives must be registered with the EPA prior to their sale 

or introduction into the marketplace. As is presented in the 

regulations implementing these provisions (40 CFR Part 79), 

these consist of motor vehicle gasolines, diesel fuels, and 

their additives. Since MTBE, ETBE, and ethanol are now fuel 

additives, they are covered by these requirements. 

The program to be developed under Section 211(b)(2) as 

part of the registration requirement will encompass the 

assessment of health, welfare, and emission control system 

effects of fuels and additives. As discussed in the ANPRM, we 

are considering a tiered approach whereby increasing levels of 

requirements will be organized into tiers, and producers will 

only need to complete the tiers necessary to provide adequate 

information for regulatory decision making. This approach 

would be one way in which the cost and efforts of complying 

with the registration requirements could be minimized. 

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One important aspect of this program, and one that you 

raised in your letter, is the provision in Section 

211(e)(3)(C). This section provides the Administrator with the 

authority to "exempt" any fuel or additive from the regulations 

"upon a finding that any additional testing of such fuel or 

additive would be duplicative of adequate existing testing". 

We are sensitive to your concerns regarding this issue and, as 

mentioned in the ANPRM, we are soliciting ideas on ways in 

which to handle it. As of yet, however, we cannot provide you 

definitive information since no decisions have been made and we 

are in the early stages of program development. 

Although we have given considerable thought to the issues, 

approaches, and concepts presented in the ANPRM, please bear in 

mind that the purpose of the ANPRM is to lay out the issues, 

inform the public of our ideas, and solicit comments. There is 

yet a significant amount of work to be done in preparing the 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and we have invited comments on 

the discussion in the ANPRM. We thank you for your comments 

and we will be placing them in the EPA Air Docket. Any 

additional thoughts or suggestions you may have on the subject 

would also be appreciated. The comment period, which runs 

through October 26, 1990, is one way you may assist EPA in 

shaping this program and we welcome your participation. If you 

have any questions or would like more information, please feel 

free to call Carolyn Krueger, the contact person listed in the 

ANPRM. Her phone number is (313) 668-4274. 

Sincerely yours, 

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY 

RICHARD D.WILSON 

Richard D. Wilson 

Director, Office of Mobile Sources