1

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

REGION III

1650 Arch Street

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

DATE: November 16, 2010

SUBJECT: Technical Support Document for Delaware’s Revision of Regulation No. 

1141 – Limiting Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from 

Consumer and Commercial Products, Section 3.0 – Portable Fuel 

Containers

/s/

FROM: Irene Shandruk, Physical Scientist 

Office of Air Program Planning 

TO: File

/s/

THRU: Brian Rehn, Acting Associate Director 

Office of Air Program Planning

A. BACKGROUND: 

Regulation No.1141 – Limiting Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from 

Consumer and Commercial Products, Section 3.0 – Portable Fuel Containers is concerned 

specifically with the use of portable fuel containers and reducing refueling emissions 

from equipment and engines that are predominantly refueled with portable containers. 

On November 22, 2002 (67 FR 57776), EPA approved the previous version of Section 

3.0. 

Effective January 1, 2009, the EPA began to regulate emissions from portable fuel 

containers (72 FR 8428). The federal rule provides more stringent emission control of 

portable fuel containers, and thereby achieves greater VOC emission reductions than the 

current Delaware regulation. Delaware, therefore, revised Regulation No. 1141 such that 

it does not apply to portable fuel containers manufactured on and after January 1, 2009, 

and that Delaware would instead rely on the federal rule to control emissions from this 

source. 

B. STATE SUBMITTAL:

On April 1, 2010, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental 

Control (DNREC) submitted a revision to the Delaware State Implementation Plan (SIP) 

that consists of Delaware’s regulation for reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 

from portable fuel containers (i.e. gas cans) in Delaware (Regulation No. 1141 – Limiting 
2

Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from Consumer and Commercial Products, 

Section 3.0 – Portable Fuel Containers). The revision to Regulation No. 1141 amends 

existing Section 3.0 – Portable Fuel Containers. The effective date of this regulation was 

April 11, 2010. 

In Delaware’s April 1, 2010 submission, an error was made in the citation of the federal 

rule. It was accidentally referenced as 37 FR 8428 when it should have read 72 FR 8428. 

On September 3, 2010, Delaware submitted a supplement1to this SIP revision correcting 

the typo. The supplement consisted of a letter describing the error and Regulation 1141 

with the correct citation for the federal rule. 

Regulation No. 1141, Section 3.0 is revised to apply to any portable fuel container or 

spout or both portable fuel container and spout manufactured between January 1, 2003 

and December 31, 2008. It eliminates the applicability of Section 3.0 to portable fuel 

containers manufactured on and after January 1, 2009, and instead these portable fuel 

containers are regulated by federal regulation 72 FR 8428.

C. EPA EVALUATION:

The State of Delaware is relying on the federal rule to control emissions from portable 

fuel containers manufactured on and after January 1, 2009. This revision will continue to 

help Delaware reduce VOC emissions and, therefore, attain and maintain NAAQS for 

ozone. 

D. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDED AGENCY ACTION:

Delaware’s adoption of the federal rule for portable fuel containers (72 FR 8428) will 

result in greater VOC emission reductions from portable fuel containers. EPA approval 

of the SIP revision is recommended.

 

1

 The subject of the letter in the SIP revision supplement erroneously reads as “Delaware Implementation 

of the Greenhouse Tailoring Rule.” The body of the letter, however, describes the error in the citation in 

the Portable Fuel Containers SIP submitted to EPA on April 1, 2010.