Opinion ID: 455926
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evaporative Emissions

Text: 60 The petitioners also contend that the Administrator's conclusion that the increased evaporative emissions caused by Petrocoal could be controlled by controlling the volatility of the blended fuel was arbitrary and capricious. See Brief for MVMA at 45. The Administrator, in the Petrocoal waiver decision, stated that the relationship between fuel volatility characteristics (primarily the Front End Volatility Index (FEVI)) and evaporative emissions had been clearly established for fuels composed entirely of hydrocarbon components and had been demonstrated to apply for fuels containing some relatively small percentages of the oxygenated hydrocarbons TBA, MTBE and Oxinal. Petrocoal Waiver, 46 Fed.Reg. at 48,977. Although noting that the data available on Petrocoal at the higher percentages of alcohol was incomplete, the Administrator concluded that the relationship between fuel volatility and evaporative emissions appeared to hold for Petrocoal based on the data in the record with respect to Petrocoal's FEVI and evaporative emissions. 61 The Administrator in past waiver decisions has consistently relied on the assumption that fuel volatility restrictions will adequately control evaporative emission increases; generally, however, the assumption has been supported by at least some confirmatory test data on the fuel at issue. See, e.g., Oxinal Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 37,076; MTBE Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 12,245; TBA Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 10,532. While we harbor some doubts as to the wisdom of the Administrator's application of this assumption in the specific case of Petrocoal with its higher methanol, total alcohol, and oxygen content, we decline to find the Administrator's action arbitrary and capricious. The data cited by MVMA indicating that controlling volatility will not solve the evaporative emissions problem caused by Petrocoal was submitted as a supplement to MVMA's petition for administrative reconsideration. See Brief for MVMA at 48 & n. 38. While this new data may indicate that the Administrator's reliance on the assumed relationship between fuel volatility and evaporative emissions was in error, this evidence was not in the record at the time the waiver was granted, and thus we will not rely on it to undercut the Administrator's conclusions on review. See American Petroleum Inst. v. Costle, 665 F.2d 1176, 1186 n. 3 (D.C.Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1034, 102 S.Ct. 1737, 72 L.Ed.2d 152 (1982).