Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 168 - Arkansas Economic Development Commission › Rule 168.00.07-005 - Changes to the Petroleum Set-Aside Rules

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
SECTION
		  1.
POLICY AND PURPOSE
The following rules and regulations of the Arkansas Energy
			 Office, a division of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, are
			 promulgated pursuant to ACA §15-72-804 (a) (1)-(2) of the Arkansas
			 Emergency Petroleum Set-Aside Act (ACA 15-72-801 et. seq.) and the Arkansas
			 Administrative Procedure Act (25-15-201 et. seq. as amended).
It is the purpose of these rules and regulations, and it is
			 hereby declared to be the policy of the Arkansas Energy Office (1) to provide
			 for the orderly operation of the state authorized program; (2) to implement
			 said set-aside program whenever the Governor, in his discretion, finds that
			 such a program is necessary to manage a shortage of petroleum products which
			 threatens the continuation of emergency services and essential industrial or
			 agricultural activities; (3) to prevent duplication of state and federal
			 regulatory requirements; (4) to implement only that portion of the set-aside
			 program (with regard to the number of petroleum products covered) as is deemed
			 necessary by the Governor to manage the existing shortage; and (5) to terminate
			 the set-aside program as soon as the Governor finds that it is no longer
			 necessary to manage a shortage.
SECTION
		  2.
DEFINITIONS
When used in these regulations:
(A) "Act" means the Emergency Petroleum
		  Set-Aside Act ACA 15-72-801 et. seq
.
(B) "Agricultural Activities" means
		  commercial farming, dairy, poultry, livestock, horticulture, forestry and
		  fishing activities and services directly related to the planting, cultivation,
		  harvesting, processing and distribution of fiber, timber and food intended for
		  human consumption and animal feed.
(C) "Assignment" means an action taken by the
		  Arkansas Energy Office, designating that a prime supplier or broker of
		  petroleum products supply them to an authorized consumer, dealer, wholesale
		  purchaser-consumer or wholesale purchaser-reseller to facilitate relief of
		  emergency or hardship needs pursuant to ACA § 15-72-804 of the
		  Act.
(D) "Blended fuels" are
		  mixtures composed of gasoline or diesel fuel and another liquid (other than a
		  minimum amount of a product such as carburetor detergent) that can be used as a
		  fuel in a highway vehicle. Blended fuels are not designated as a product
		  covered by the set-aside program, however they can supplement available
		  petroleum supplies on a case-by-case basis.
(E) "Broker" means a marketer of petroleum
		  products who performs none of the basic marketing functions but normally brings
		  buyer and seller together and receives a fee or commission for his
		  services.
(F) "Consumer" or "End
		  User" means any individual, trustee, agency, partnership association,
		  corporation, company, municipality, political subdivision or other legal entity
		  which purchases petroleum products for ultimate consumption in
		  Arkansas.
(G) "Dealer" or
		  "Retailer" means and includes any person or firm engaged in the business of
		  selling petroleum products at retail.
(H) "Director" means the Director of the
		  Arkansas Energy Office.
(I)
		  "Emergency" or "Hardship" means any situation which, in the judgment of the
		  Arkansas Energy Office, presents a threat to the economic, social or personal
		  welfare of the areas, regions or individual users for which an assignment from
		  the state set-aside is requested.
(J) "Emergency Services" means vital
		  services, including but not limited to, law enforcement, fire fighting, medical
		  care, sanitation, etc.
(K) "Firm"
		  means any association, company, corporation, estate, individual, joint venture,
		  partnership, or sole proprietorship or any entity however organized, including
		  charitable, or educational institutions and the Federal Government, including
		  federal corporations, departments and agencies and state and local
		  governments.
(L) "Industrial
		  Activities" means all industrial activities which create or change materials
		  into another form as well as commercial activities involving the sale of goods
		  and services.
(M) A "Jobber" of
		  petroleum products is a person or company that purchases quantities of refined
		  fuel from refining companies for sale to retailers. The jobber sometimes owns
		  the gasoline being sold, and the station to which it is being sold.
(N) "Petroleum Products" means propane, motor
		  gasoline, blended fuels, kerosene, #2 fuel oil, on and off-road diesel fuel,
		  kerosene-base jet fuel, naphtha-base jet fuel, and aviation gasoline.
(O) "Prime Supplier" means the supplier which
		  makes the first sale of any petroleum product subject to the state set-aside
		  into the state distribution system for consumption within the state.
		  Notwithstanding the above, "prime supplier" shall not include any firm, or any
		  part or subsidiary of any firm, which supplies, sells, transfers or otherwise
		  furnishes any allocated product exclusively to utilities for generation of
		  electric energy.
(P) "Purchaser"
		  means a wholesale purchaser or consumer, or both.
(Q) "Reference Month" means the calendar
		  month and year to which the reported information on actual sales volume
		  relates.
(R) "Set-Aside" means,
		  with respect to a particular prime supplier, the amount of a petroleum product
		  which is made available from the total supply of a prime supplier, pursuant to
		  the provisions of ACA § 15-72-804 of the Act, for utilization by the
		  Arkansas Energy Office to resolve emergencies and hardships due to shortages or
		  other dislocations in petroleum products distribution systems.
(S) "Supplier" means any firm or any part or
		  subsidiary of any firm other than the Department of Defense, which supplies,
		  sells, transfers or otherwise furnishes any allocated product to wholesale
		  purchasers or end-users, including but not limited to refiners, importers,
		  resellers, brokers, jobbers and retailers. Notwithstanding the above,
		  "supplier" shall not include any firm, or any part or subsidiary of any firm,
		  which supplies, sells, transfers or otherwise furnishes any allocated product
		  exclusively to utilities for generation of electric energy.
(T) "Undue Economic Burden" means, as used in
		  ACA § 15-72-804 (d)(2)(B) of the Act, any assignment which, in the
		  judgment of the Arkansas Energy Office, creates an extraordinary and
		  financially prohibitive burden on a prime supplier or broker. Such judgments by
		  Energy Office personnel shall take into account written evidence of such a
		  burden furnished by the prime supplier or broker involved.
(U) "Wholesale Purchaser" means a wholesale
		  purchaser-reseller or wholesale purchaser-consumer, or both.
(V) "Wholesale Purchaser-Consumer" means any
		  firm that is an ultimate consumer which, as a part of its normal business
		  practices, purchases or obtains a product subject to the state set-aside from a
		  supplier and receives delivery of that product into a storage tank
		  substantially under the control of that firm at a fixed location.
(W) "Wholesale Purchaser-Reseller" means any
		  firm, including dealers, which purchases, receives through transfers or
		  otherwise obtains, as by consignment, a product subject to the state set-aside
		  and resells or otherwise transfers it to other purchasers without substantially
		  changing its form.