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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 153 (Friday, August 8, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 46387-46390]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-18569]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 80

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2014-0575; FRL-9914-87-OAR]
RIN 2060-AS29

Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Extension of Compliance 
and Attest Engagement Reporting Deadlines for 2013 Renewable Fuel 
Standards

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
extend two reporting deadlines for the 2013 compliance period under the 
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. This proposed action would 
specifically affect the annual compliance and attest engagement 
reporting requirement deadlines for regulated parties. The annual 
compliance reports and attest engagement reports for the 2013 RFS 
compliance period would not be due until 30 days and 90 days, 
respectively, following publication of the final rule establishing the 
2014 renewable fuel percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, 
biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel in the 
Federal Register. This proposed action would ensure timely amendment of 
existing deadlines, before compliance obligations would otherwise go 
into effect. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal 
Register, we are extending the annual compliance and attest engagement 
reporting deadlines for the 2013 RFS compliance period as a direct 
final rule without a prior proposed rule. If we receive no adverse 
comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before September 15, 
2014.
    Hearing: We will hold a public hearing on August 15, 2014 if one is 
requested by noon EDT of the preceding business day. The public 
hearing, if requested, will be held at the EPA National Vehicle and 
Fuel Emissions Laboratory, 2000 Traverwood, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, 
beginning at 10:00 a.m. local time.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2014-0575, by one of the following methods:
    www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
     Email: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov.
     Mail: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, 
Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 
3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. 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-
2014-0575. The 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 the 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 the 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, the 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 the EPA cannot read your comment due to technical 
difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, the 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 the EPA's public 
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in

[[Page 46388]]

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Air and Radiation Docket and 
Information Center, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. 
NW., Washington, DC. The 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 Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the Air Docket is (202) 566-1742.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julia MacAllister, Office of 
Transportation and Air Quality, Assessment and Standards Division, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 Traverwood Drive, Ann Arbor MI 
48105; Telephone number: 734-214-4131; Fax number: 734-214-4816; Email 
address: macallister.julia@epa.gov, or the public information line for 
the Office of Transportation and Air Quality; telephone number (734) 
214-4333; Email address OTAQ@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Why is the EPA issuing this proposed rule?

    This document proposes to take action to extend certain reporting 
requirement deadlines for the 2013 RFS compliance period. We have also 
published a direct final rule in the ``Rules and Regulations'' section 
of this Federal Register because we view this as a noncontroversial 
action and anticipate no adverse comment. We have explained our reasons 
for this action in the preamble to the direct final rule.
    If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action 
on this proposed rule. If we receive adverse comment, we will withdraw 
the direct final rule and it will not take effect. We would address all 
public comments in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule.
    We do not intend to institute a second comment period on this 
action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time. 
For further information, please see the information provided in the 
ADDRESSES section of this document.

II. Does this proposed action apply to me?

    Entities potentially affected by this direct final rule are those 
involved with the production, distribution, and sale of transportation 
fuels, including gasoline and diesel fuel or renewable fuels such as 
ethanol and biodiesel. Potentially regulated categories include:

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                                                                               Examples of potentially regulated
                 Category                   NAICS \1\ Codes    SIC \2\ Codes                entities
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Industry.................................            324110              2911  Petroleum Refineries.
Industry.................................            325193              2869  Ethyl alcohol manufacturing.
Industry.................................            325199              2869  Other basic organic chemical
                                                                                manufacturing.
Industry.................................            424690              5169  Chemical and allied products
                                                                                merchant wholesalers.
Industry.................................            424710              5171  Petroleum bulk stations and
                                                                                terminals.
Industry.................................            424720              5172  Petroleum and petroleum products
                                                                                merchant wholesalers.
Industry.................................            454319              5989  Other fuel dealers.
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\1\ North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
\2\ Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system code.

    This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a 
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by this 
proposed action. This table lists the types of entities that the EPA is 
now aware could be potentially regulated by this proposed action. Other 
types of entities not listed in the table could also be regulated. To 
determine whether your activities would be regulated by this proposed 
action, you should carefully examine the applicability criteria in 40 
CFR part 80. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of 
this proposed action to a particular entity, consult the person listed 
in the preceding section.

III. Background and Purpose

    The EPA is proposing to amend existing regulatory deadlines for 
regulated parties under the RFS program regarding the submission of 
annual compliance reports and attest engagement reports for the 2013 
RFS compliance period.
    We received comments on our November 29, 2013 proposed rulemaking 
to establish the 2014 renewable fuel percentage standards for 
cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel and total 
renewable fuel \1\ reiterating the importance to obligated parties of 
knowing their RFS obligations for the 2014 RFS compliance period prior 
to the compliance demonstration deadline for the 2013 RFS compliance 
period. The EPA recognized the value of this timing to obligated 
parties in the 2013 RFS final rule, and for that reason delayed the 
normally applicable February 28 compliance demonstration deadline to 
June 30, 2014 for the 2013 RFS compliance period.\2\ We reasoned at 
that time that an extension to June 30, 2014 would be sufficient in 
light of the expected date of issuance of the final rule establishing 
the 2014 renewable fuel percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, 
biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel.
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    \1\ 78 FR 71732 (November 29, 2013).
    \2\ 78 FR 49794, 49800 (August 15, 2013).
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    Because the 2014 renewable fuel standards were not final at the 
time the annual compliance reports for the 2013 RFS compliance period 
were coming due, we further extended this reporting deadline until 
September 30, 2014 (as well as the associated deadline for attest 
engagement reports until January 30, 2015).\3\ However, in light of the 
further delay in issuing the final rule establishing the 2014 renewable 
fuel percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, 
advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel, we are proposing (with a 
parallel direct final rule) to provide an additional extension of the 
annual compliance and attest engagement reporting period for the 2013 
RFS compliance period. Under this proposal, regulated parties would not 
have to submit annual compliance reports and attest engagement reports 
for the 2013 RFS compliance period until 30 days and 90 days, 
respectively, following publication of the final rule establishing the 
2014 renewable fuel percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, 
biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel in the 
Federal Register.
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    \3\ 79 FR 34242 (June 16, 2014).

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[[Page 46389]]

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive 
Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review

    This proposed action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' 
under the terms of Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) 
and is therefore not subject to review under Executive Orders 12866 and 
13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011).

B. Paperwork Reduction Act

    There are no new information collection requirements associated 
with this proposed rulemaking. The extension of the existing regulatory 
deadlines for regulated parties under the RFS program would impose no 
new or different reporting requirements on regulated parties. The 
existing information collection requests (ICR) that apply to the RFS 
program are sufficient to address the reporting requirements in the 
proposed regulations.
    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 the 
EPA's regulations in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9.

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) generally requires an agency 
to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to 
notice and comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative 
Procedures Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that 
the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses, 
small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions.
    For purposes of assessing the impacts of this proposed rule on 
small entities, small entity is defined as: (1) A small business as 
defined by the Small Business Administration's (SBA) regulations at 13 
CFR 121.201; (2) a small governmental jurisdiction that is a government 
of a city, county, town, school district or special district with a 
population of less than 50,000; and (3) a small organization that is 
any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated 
and is not dominant in its field.
    After considering the economic impacts of today's proposed rule on 
small entities, I certify that this proposed rule would not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
This proposed rule would amend the existing regulatory deadlines for 
regulated parties under the RFS program to submit reports demonstrating 
their compliance with the 2013 RFS standards, and to submit 
corresponding attest engagement reports. This proposed action if 
finalized would ensure timely amendment of existing deadlines, before 
compliance obligations would otherwise go into effect. The impacts of 
the RFS program on small entities were already addressed in the RFS2 
final rule promulgated on March 26, 2010 (75 FR 14670), and this 
proposal would not impose any additional requirements on small entities 
beyond those already analyzed.

D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

    This proposed action contains no Federal mandates under the 
provisions of Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 
(UMRA), 2 U.S.C. 1531-1538 for State, local, or tribal governments or 
the private sector. Therefore, this proposed action is not subject to 
the requirements of sections 202 or 205 of the UMRA.
    This proposed action is also not subject to the requirements of 
section 203 of UMRA because it contains no proposed regulatory 
requirements that might significantly or uniquely affect small 
governments. This proposed rule only applies to gasoline, diesel, and 
renewable fuel producers, importers, distributors and marketers and 
would merely extend the otherwise applicable reporting deadlines.

E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism

    This proposed action does not have federalism implications. It 
would not have substantial direct effects on the States, on the 
relationship between the national government and the States, or on the 
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of 
government, as specified in Executive Order 13132. This proposed action 
would amend the existing regulatory deadlines for regulated parties 
under the RFS program to submit reports demonstrating their compliance 
with the 2013 RFS standards, and to submit corresponding attest 
engagement reports. The proposed new deadlines would only apply to 
gasoline, diesel, and renewable fuel producers, importers, distributors 
and marketers. Thus, Executive Order 13132 does not apply to this 
proposed rule.

F. Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination With Indian 
Tribal Governments

    This proposed action does not have tribal implications, as 
specified in Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000). 
This proposed rule would be implemented at the Federal level and 
affects transportation fuel refiners, blenders, marketers, 
distributors, importers, exporters, and renewable fuel producers and 
importers. Tribal governments would be affected only to the extent they 
purchase and use regulated fuels. Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not 
apply to this proposed action.

G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental 
Health Risks and Safety Risks

    The EPA interprets E.O. 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997) as 
applying only to those regulatory actions that concern health or safety 
risks, such that the analysis required under section 5-501 of the E.O. 
has the potential to influence the regulation. This proposed action is 
not subject to E.O. 13045 because it would not establish an 
environmental standard intended to mitigate health or safety risks and 
because it would implement specific standards established by Congress 
in statutes (section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act).

H. Executive Order 13211: Actions Concerning Regulations That 
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use

    This proposed action is not a ``significant energy action'' as 
defined in Executive Order 13211, ``Actions Concerning Regulations That 
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355 
(May 22, 2001)) because it would not likely have a significant adverse 
effect on the supply, distribution, or use of energy. This proposed 
action would simply amend certain reporting deadlines for regulated 
parties under the RFS program.

I. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act

    Section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement 
Act of 1995 (``NTTAA''), Public Law 104-113, 12(d) (15 U.S.C. 272 note) 
directs the EPA to use voluntary consensus standards in its regulatory 
activities unless to do so would be inconsistent with applicable law or 
otherwise impractical. Voluntary consensus standards are technical 
standards (e.g., materials specifications, test methods, sampling 
procedures, and business practices) that are developed or

[[Page 46390]]

adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies. NTTAA directs the EPA 
to provide Congress, through OMB, explanations when the Agency decides 
not to use available and applicable voluntary consensus standards.
    This proposed rulemaking does not involve technical standards. 
Therefore, the EPA is not considering the use of any voluntary 
consensus standards.

J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental 
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations

    Executive Order (E.O.) 12898 (59 FR 7629 (Feb. 16, 1994)) 
establishes federal executive policy on environmental justice. Its main 
provision directs federal agencies, to the greatest extent practicable 
and permitted by law, to make environmental justice part of their 
mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, 
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental 
effects of their programs, policies, and activities on minority 
populations and low-income populations in the United States.
    The EPA has determined that this proposed rule would not have 
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental 
effects on minority or low-income populations because it would not 
affect the level of protection provided to human health or the 
environment. This proposed action would not relax the control measures 
on sources regulated by the RFS regulations and therefore would not 
cause emissions increases from these sources.

V. Statutory Authority

    Statutory authority for this action comes from sections 211 and 
301(a) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7545 and 7601(a).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 80

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Air pollution control, Diesel fuel, Fuel additives, Gasoline, Imports, 
Oil imports, Petroleum, Renewable fuel.

    Dated: July 31, 2014.
Gina McCarthy,
Administrator.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, title 40, chapter I of 
the Code of Federal Regulations is proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 80--REGULATION OF FUELS AND FUELS ADDITIVES

0
1. The authority citation for part 80 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C., 7414, 7521, 7542, 7545, and 7601(a).

Subpart M--Renewable Fuel Standard

0
2. Section 80.1451 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(1)(xiv) to read 
as follows:.

Sec.  80.1451  What are the reporting requirements under the RFS 
program?

    (a) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (xiv) For the 2013 compliance year, annual compliance reports shall 
be submitted within 30 days after publication in the Federal Register 
of the final rule establishing the 2014 renewable fuel percentage 
standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced 
biofuel and total renewable fuel.
* * * * *
0
3. Section 80.1464 is amended by revising paragraph (g) to read as 
follows:

Sec.  80.1464  What are the attest engagement requirements under the 
RFS program?

* * * * *
    (g) For the 2013 compliance year, reports required under this 
section shall be submitted to the EPA within 90 days after publication 
in the Federal Register of the final rule establishing the 2014 
renewable fuel percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-
based diesel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel.

[FR Doc. 2014-18569 Filed 8-7-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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