Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 31 / Thursday, February 14, 2008 / Notices 8665 

for online viewing at 

www.regulations.gov, or in person 

viewing at the OPP Regulatory Public 

Docket in Rm. S–4400, One Potomac 

Yard (South Building), 2777 S. Crystal 

Drive, Arlington, VA. The hours of 

operation of this Docket Facility are 

from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The Docket telephone number 

is (703) 305–5805. 

Use EPA’s electronic docket and 

comment system at 

www.regulations.gov, to submit or view 

public comments, access the index 

listing of the contents of the docket, and 

to access those documents in the docket 

that are available electronically. Once in 

the system, select ‘‘docket search,’’ then 

key in the docket ID number identified 

above. Please note that EPA’s policy is 

that public comments, whether 

submitted electronically or in paper, 

will be made available for public 

viewing at www.regulations.gov as EPA 

receives them and without change, 

unless the comment contains 

copyrighted material, Confidential 

Business Information (CBI), or other 

information whose public disclosure is 

restricted by statute. For further 

information about the electronic docket, 

go to www.regulations.gov. 

Title: Application and Summary 

Report for an Emergency Exemption for 

Pesticides. 

ICR numbers: EPA ICR No. 0596.09, 

OMB Control No. 2070–0032. 

ICR Status: This ICR is scheduled to 

expire on February 29, 2008. Under 

OMB regulations, the Agency may 

continue to conduct or sponsor the 

collection of information while this 

submission is pending at OMB. 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 in title 40 of the CFR, 

after appearing in the Federal Register 

when approved, are listed in 40 CFR 

part 9, are displayed either by 

publication in the Federal Register or 

by other appropriate means, such as on 

the related collection instrument or 

form, if applicable. The display of OMB 

control numbers in certain EPA 

regulations is consolidated in 40 CFR 

part 9. 

Abstract: Section 18 of the Federal 

Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide 

Act (FIFRA) authorizes the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

to grant emergency exemptions to states 

and Federal agencies to allow an 

unregistered use of a pesticide for a 

limited time if EPA determines that 

emergency conditions exist. A Section 

18 action arises when growers and 

others encounter a pest problem on a 

site for which there is either no 

registered pesticide available, or for 

which there is a registered pesticide that 

would be effective but is not yet 

approved for use on that particular site. 

Section 18 also allows states to submit 

requests to EPA to grant unregistered 

pesticide use exemptions for public 

health and quarantine reasons. 

Responses to this collection of 

information are mandatory. 

Burden Statement: The annual public 

reporting and recordkeeping burden for 

this collection of information is 

estimated to average 83 hours per 

application and 16 hours per summary 

report. 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 instructions; 

develop, acquire, install, and utilize 

technology and systems for the purposes 

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 which have subsequently 

changed; train personnel to be able to 

respond to a collection of information; 

search data sources; complete and 

review the collection of information; 

and transmit or otherwise disclose the 

information. 

Respondents/Affected Entities: State 

Agency, U.S. Territory, or Federal 

Agency. 

Estimated No. of Respondents: 60. 

Frequency of Collection: On occasion. 

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 

49,500 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Labor Costs: 

$2,472,770. 

Changes in Burden Estimates: There 

is no change in the 49,500 hours in the 

total estimated respondent burden 

compared with that identified in the ICR 

currently approved by OMB. 

Dated: February 7, 2008. 

Sara Hisel-McCoy, 

Director, Collection Strategies Division. 

[FR Doc. E8–2784 Filed 2–13–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–8528–9] 

Revised Renewable Fuel Standard for 

2008, Issued Pursuant to Section 

211(o) of the Clean Air Act as 

Amended by the Energy Independence 

and Security Act of 2007 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Section 211(o) of the Clean 

Air Act (CAA or the Act), as amended 

by the Energy Independence and 

Security Act of 2007 (EISA), requires the 

Administrator of the Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) to annually 

determine a renewable fuel standard 

(RFS) which is applicable to refiners, 

importers and certain blenders of 

gasoline, and publish the standard in 

the Federal Register. On the basis of 

this standard, each obligated party 

determines the volume of renewable 

fuel that it must ensure is consumed as 

motor vehicle fuel. This standard is 

calculated as a percentage, by dividing 

the amount of renewable fuel that the 

Act requires to be blended into gasoline 

for a given year by the amount of 

gasoline expected to be used during that 

year, including certain adjustments 

specified by the Act. In this notice we 

are publishing an RFS 7.76% for 2008. 

This standard is intended to lead to the 

use of 9 billion gallons of renewable fuel 

in 2008, as required by amended section 

211(o). This standard supersedes the 

2008 RFS that EPA published on 

November 27, 2007, before enactment of 

the EISA. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Chris McKenna, Environmental 

Protection Agency, MC 6406J, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, 

DC 20460; telephone number: 202–343–

9037; fax number: 202–343–2801; Email address: mckenna.chris@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Calculation of 2008 RFS 

A. Background 

On November 27, 2007, EPA 

published a Notice in the Federal 

Register announcing a renewable fuel 

standard for 2008 of 4.66%. This 

standard was designed to result in the 

use of 5.4 billion gallons of renewable 

fuel in 2008, as required by CAA section 

211(o) at the time EPA published the 

standard. On December 19, 2007, 

President Bush signed into law the 

Energy Independence and Security Act 

of 2007 (EISA), which, among other 

things, amended CAA section 211(o) to 


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8666 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 31 / Thursday, February 14, 2008 / Notices 

require the use of 9.0 billion gallons of 

renewable fuel in 2008. Today’s Notice 

announces the recalculated standard for 

2008, based on the volume of renewable 

fuel that amended section 211(o) now 

requires. 

In today’s Notice we are using the 

calculational procedure set forth in the 

final rulemaking for the Renewable Fuel 

Standard Program, as we did in the 

November 27, 2007, Notice. The formula 

includes a variable representing the 

volume of renewable fuel required by 

section 211(o), and EPA is today using 

that formula with the renewable fuel 

volume for 2008 required by the EISA 

amendments to section 211(o) to 

recalculate the RFS for 2008. Since the 

RFS rule establishes clear legal criteria 

for deriving the standard (including 

specification of the formula used in 

today’s Notice, and all data sources), 

EPA is simply applying facts to preestablished law in issuing the recalculated final 2008 RFS. EPA is 

advising the regulated community of the 

revised standard through a Federal 

Register Notice, without prior notice 

and comment, in accordance with the 

Clean Air Act and EPA regulations. 

The 2008 RFS is calculated by 

dividing the volume of renewable fuels 

required by CAA section 211(o) to be 

blended into gasoline in 2008, by the 

volume of gasoline projected by the 

Energy Information Administration 

(EIA) to be consumed in 2008 (including 

certain adjustments specified by the 

Act). The following equation from the 

final RFS Program regulations 

summarizes all of the variables that 

must be considered in the calculation. 

RFStd RFV Cell

G R GS RS GE i

i i

ii i i i

= × −

( ) − + − ( ) − 100

Where 

RFStdi= Renewable Fuel Standard in year i, 

in percent. 

RFVi=Annual volume of renewable fuels 

required by section 211(o)(2)(B) of the 

Act for year i, in gallons. 

Gi=Amount of gasoline projected to be used 

in the 48 contiguous states, in year i, in 

gallons. 

Ri=Amount of renewable fuel blended into 

gasoline that is projected to be consumed 

in the 48 contiguous states, in year i, in 

gallons. 

GSi= Amount of gasoline projected to be used 

in Alaska, Hawaii, or a U.S. territory in 

year i if the state or territory opts-in, in 

gallons. 

RSi= Amount of renewable fuel blended into 

gasoline that is projected to be consumed 

in Alaska, Hawaii, or a U.S. territory in 

year i if the state or territory opts-in, in 

gallons. 

GEi= Amount of gasoline projected to be 

produced by exempt small refineries and 

small refiners in year i, in gallons 

(through 2010 only unless exemption 

extended under §§211(o)(9)(A)(ii) or (B)). 

Celli= Beginning in 2013, amount of 

renewable fuel that is required to come 

from cellulosic sources, in year i, in 

gallons (250,000,000 gallons minimum). 

EISA section 210(a)(1) also states that, 

‘‘For calendar year 2008, transportation 

fuel sold or introduced into commerce 

in the United States (except in 

noncontiguous States or territories), that 

is produced from facilities that 

commence construction after the date of 

enactment of this Act shall be treated as 

renewable fuel within the meaning of 

section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act only 

if it achieves at least a 20 percent 

reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas 

emissions compared to baseline 

lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.’’

EISA further provides that for 2008 and 

2009, any ethanol plant that is fired 

with natural gas, biomass or any 

combination thereof is deemed to be in 

compliance with the 20 percent 

lifecycle greenhouse gas reduction 

requirement. Based on the text of this 

section, which is not an amendment to 

section 211(o) of the CAA and is not 

covered by the rulemaking provision in 

EISA section 202(a)(1) (amending 

section 211(o)(2)(A)(i)), EPA believes 

that these 2008 requirements are selfimplementing, and therefore 

immediately effective. EPA intends to 

address the meaning of the term 

‘‘commence construction’’, and also 

address what transportation fuels other 

than ethanol from a facility fired by 

natural gas, biomass or some 

combination of the two satisfy the 20 

percent lifecycle greenhouse gas 

reduction requirement, in the context of 

a proposed rule designed to implement 

the EISA amendments to the RFS 

program. EPA further notes, however, 

that is unlikely that any facilities for the 

production of transportation fuel that 

commence construction following 

enactment of EISA will be operational 

during 2008. Therefore, the 20 percent 

lifecycle greenhouse gas reduction 

requirement is unlikely to have a realworld impact for 2008. 

While EISA requires a substantial 

change in the 2008 RFS, we believe that 

the required renewable production 

capacity will come on line this year. In 

addition, at current oil prices, we would 

expect it to be economic to use the 

volume of renewable fuel required by 

EISA for 2008. We also believe RINS 

generated in excess of the 2007 RFS can 

be applied to the 2008 RFS to provide 

additional flexibility to the fuel supply 

market. However, we recognize that in 

the short term there may be some 

catching-up required for the distribution 

infrastructure to deliver the required 

volume of renewable fuel. 

B. Data Sources for 2008 RFS 

Calculation 

The following discussion describes 

the sources of data for the variables in 

the above equation. For ease of 

calculation, this discussion regroups the 

terms (Gi¥Ri) + (GSi¥RSi) in the 

denominator of the above equation into 

the terms (Gi + GSi)¥(Ri + RSi). 

Calculation of (RFVi¥Celli), Total 

Amount of Renewable Fuels From NonCellulosic Sources That Must Be 

Blended Into Gasoline in 2008 

The EISA amended CAA section 

211(o) to require 9.0 billion gallons of 

renewable fuels to be blended into 

gasoline in 2008. Since the amended 

CAA section 211(o) does not include a 

cellulosic volume requirement until 

2013, the amount of renewable fuel 

required to be produced from cellulosic 

sources in 2008 (Celli) remains, zero. 

Thus the total amount of renewable 

fuels from non-cellulosic sources that 

must be blended into gasoline in 2008 

is 9.0 billion gallons. 

Calculation of (Gi + GSi), total amount 

of gasoline projected to be used in the 

48 contiguous states plus opt-in states/ 

territories, in year i, in gallons 

CAA section 211(o) requires the 

Administrator of the EIA by October 31 

of each year to provide EPA with an 

estimate of the volumes of gasoline 

projected to be sold or introduced into 

commerce in the United States for the 

following year. During the development 

of the RFS Program, EIA informed EPA 

that the projected gasoline consumption 

in ‘‘Table 4a: U.S. Petroleum Supply, 

Consumption, and Inventories’’

(formerly ‘‘Table 5a. U.S. Petroleum 

Supply and Demand: Base Case’’) of the 

October issue of the monthly ShortTerm Energy Outlook (STEO) should be 


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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 31 / Thursday, February 14, 2008 / Notices 8667 

1Letter to the Honorable Linda Lingle, Governor 

of Hawaii, from Stephen Johnson of EPA dated July 

30, 2007. 

2Energy Information Administration, Petroleum 

Marketing Annual 2006, Explanatory Notes, 

Relationship of Refiner and Prime Supplier Sales 

Volumes’’ (p. 382). 

3Table 2.2–21 ‘‘2012 Forecasted Ethanol 

Consumption by State,’’ Regulatory Impact 

Analysis: Renewable Fuel Standard Program, April 

2007. 

4Through 2010 only, unless the exemption is 

extended under 211(o)(9)(A)(ii) or (B) of the Act. 

5 ‘‘Calculation of the Small Refiner/Small 

Refinery Fraction for the Renewable Fuel Program,’’

memo to the docket from Christine Brunner, ASD, 

OTAQ, EPA, September 2006. 

used to calculate the RFS for the coming 

year. The October 2007 STEO projects 

that an average of 9.42 million barrels/ 

day of gasoline will be consumed in all 

of the United States in 2008. 

Multiplying this average consumption 

rate by 366 days (2008 is a leap year) 

produces a total consumption of 144.80 

billion gallons of gasoline in 2008. 

Only one non-contiguous state or 

territory has petitioned EPA to opt into 

the RFS Program beginning in 2008. 

Hawaii petitioned EPA on June 22, 2007 

to opt into the RFS program, and EPA 

approved their request.1 Thus, Alaska is 

the only one of the 50 states that is not 

included in the RFS Program. 

In order to calculate gasoline 

consumption in the 48 contiguous states 

plus Hawaii, we subtracted Alaska’s 

projected gasoline consumption from 

the projected nationwide gasoline 

consumption of 144.80 billion gallons. 

Alaska’s projected gasoline 

consumption was calculated by 

multiplying the projected nationwide 

gasoline consumption in 2008 by the 

ratio of Alaska’s gasoline consumption 

in 2006 to the total U.S. consumption in 

2006, based on Table 48, ‘‘Prime 

Supplier Sales Volumes of Motor 

Gasoline by Grade Formulation, PAD 

District, and State’’ gasoline data from 

EIA’s Petroleum Marketing Annual 2006 

(the final rulemaking used data from 

Petroleum Marketing Annual 2005). 

According to EIA, Prime Supplier data 

reflects where gasoline is used, rather 

than where it is produced.2 Alaska’s 

projected gasoline consumption in 2008 

is 0.30 billion gallons. Subtracting this 

consumption from the projected 

nationwide consumption of 144.80 

billion gallons in 2008 produces a total 

consumption of 144.50 billion gallons of 

gasoline in 2008 in the 48 contiguous 

states plus Hawaii. 

Calculation of (Ri + RSi, total amount of 

renewable fuel blended into gasoline 

that is projected to be consumed in the 

48 contiguous states plus opt-in states/ 

territories, in year i, in gallons 

The projected gasoline consumption 

in the October 2007 STEO includes 

renewable fuel that is blended into 

gasoline. This volume of renewable fuel 

must be subtracted from the total 

volume of gasoline in order to calculate 

the total consumption of non-renewable 

gasoline. In Table 8 of the October 2007 

STEO, EIA estimates that 0.755 

quadrillion Btu of ethanol will be used 

as transportation fuel in all of the 

United States in 2008. Dividing this 

energy usage by the high heating value 

of ethanol (3.539 million Btu/barrel), 

and multiplying by 42 gallons/barrel 

produces a total ethanol usage of 8.96 

billion gallons nationwide in 2008. 

Since Hawaii has opted in, but Alaska 

has not opted in, to the RFS program for 

2008, Alaska’s renewable fuels 

consumption must be subtracted from 

the nationwide renewable fuels 

consumption to calculate renewable 

consumption in the 48 contiguous states 

plus Hawaii. In Chapter 2 of the 

Regulatory Impact analysis for the RFS 

program rulemaking, EPA estimated that 

ethanol consumption in Alaska would 

be negligible prior to 2012. Thus, we 

project renewable fuels consumption in 

the 48 contiguous states plus Hawaii to 

be 8.96 billion gallons in 2008.3 For 

purposes of recalculating the 2008 RFS, 

we will round this value to 9.0 billion 

gallons, which is equivalent to the 

volume of renewable fuel required by 

amended section 211(o) for 2008. 

Calculation of GEi, amount of gasoline 

projected to be produced by exempt 

small refineries and small refiners in 

year i, in gallons 4

In the final rulemaking establishing 

the RFS program regulations, we stated 

that we would estimate the combined 

small refinery and small refiner gasoline 

volume using a constant percentage of 

national consumption. Using 

information from gasoline batch reports 

submitted to EPA, EIA data and input 

from the California Air Resources Board 

regarding California small refiners, we 

estimated this percentage to be 13.5%.5

Multiplying the projected nationwide 

consumption of gasoline in 2008 (144.80 

billion gallons) by 13.5% results in a 

total projected production of 19.55 

billion gallons of gasoline from small 

refiners and small refineries in 2008. 

Calculation of RFStdi, renewable fuel 

standard in year i, in percent 

Substituting all of the terms 

calculated above into the equation for 

RFStdi results in the following RFS for 

2008, 

RFStdi = × − − 100 = 9 0

144 50 9 0 19 55

7 762 .

... . %

Therefore, the RFS for 2008 is 7.76%. 

This is the standard referenced in 40 

CFR 80.1105(b) through (d) and which 

obligated parties apply to determine 

their renewable volume obligation 

under 40 CFR 80.1107. This 

recalculated 2008 RFS supersedes, and 

therefore replaces for all purposes, the 

2008 standard published by EPA on 

November 27, 2007. 

Dated: February 7, 2008. 

Stephen L. Johnson, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 08–679 Filed 2–13–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560-50-M 

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY 

COMMISSION 

Meetings; Sunshine Act 

AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETING: Equal 

Employment Opportunity Commission. 

DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, February 19, 

2008, 10:30 a.m. eastern time. 

PLACE: Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. 

Conference Room on the Ninth Floor of 

the EEOC Office Building, 1801 ‘‘L’’

Street, NW., Washington, DC 20507. 

STATUS: The meeting will be open to the 

public. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

Open Session 

1. Announcement of Notation Votes, 

and 

2. Obligation of Funds for a 

Temporary Interactive Voice Response 

(IVR) Non-competitive Housing 

Contract, a Non-competitive Extension 

of Software Licenses and a Competitive 

Contract for Technology Support of 

Customer Response Function. 

Note: In accordance with the Sunshine Act, 

the meeting will be open to public 

observation of the Commission’s 

deliberations and voting. (In addition to 

publishing notices on EEOC Commission 

meetings in the Federal Register, the 


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