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

Heading: 50,000-Mile Durability Testing

Text: 20 Section 211(f)(4) provides that, to qualify for a waiver, an applicant must establish that the fuel will not cause or contribute to a failure of any emission control device or system (over the useful life of any vehicle in which such device or system is used ) to achieve compliance by the vehicle with the [applicable] emission standards. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 7545(f)(4) (emphasis added). The Conference Report states that a waiver could not be granted if the fuel caused or contributed to the vehicle's failure to meet the standards at any point in its useful life. H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 564, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 161 (1977), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1977, p. 1542 (emphasis added); see supra p. 390 (quoting passage in full). Section 202(d), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 7521(d), defines the useful life of a vehicle as five years or 50,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Petitioners argue that both the language of section 211(f)(4) and its legislative history clearly indicate that an applicant must submit data which measure the fuel's effect on emissions over the useful life of the vehicle (i.e., 50,000-mile durability testing). 8 See Brief for MVMA at 27-30, 37-41. Thus petitioners claim that the EPA erred in granting the Petrocoal waiver in the absence of 50,000-mile durability data. 21 The EPA, however, has established a practice of not requiring 50,000-mile durability testing where it determines that the emissions effect of the fuel is of an instantaneous, not deteriorative, nature. See Oxinal Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. 37,074 (1979); MTBE Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. 12,242 (1979); TBA Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. 10,530 (1979). Instead the EPA requires only back-to-back testing. 9 This practice is predicated upon EPA's general interpretation of the burden of proof required of an applicant under section 211(f)(4). Specifically, the EPA states: 22 This burden, which Congress has imposed on the applicant, if interpreted literally, is virtually impossible to meet as it requires proof of a negative proposition, i.e., that no vehicle will fail to meet emission standards with respect to which it has been certified. Taken literally, it would require the testing of every vehicle. Recognizing that Congress contemplated a workable waiver provision, mitigation of this stringent burden was deemed necessary. For purposes of the waiver provision, EPA has previously indicated that reliable statistical sampling and fleet testing protocols may be used to demonstrate that a fuel under consideration would not cause or contribute to a significant failure of emission standards by vehicles in the national fleet. 23 Petrocoal Waiver, 46 Fed.Reg. at 48,976; TBA Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 10,530. Having determined that sample testing of vehicles is an appropriate method for establishing that a fuel qualifies for a waiver under section 211(f)(4), the EPA then further considered which specific testing methods were appropriate in given cases. The EPA concluded that back-to-back testing and statistical projections are sufficient where a fuel is predicated to have only instantaneous effects, see supra note 9, and that 50,000-mile durability testing is only required where a fuel is predicated to have long-term deteriorative effects. See, e.g., Petrocoal Waiver, 46 Fed.Reg. at 48, 976; TBA Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 10,531. The EPA justifies this latter determination regarding the requisite testing sufficient to qualify for a section 211(f)(4) waiver on the ground that the legislative history of section 211(f)(4) indicates that the EPA in evaluating the long-term effects of a fuel is only required to take into account the deterioration factors employed in certifying the engine. Brief for EPA at 12 (citing H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 564 at 161). 10 The EPA asserts that the statistical tests used to evaluate the emissions effect of a fuel expected to have an instantaneous effect on emissions, namely the Deteriorated Emissions Test, see supra note 9, takes full account of the deterioration factors used in certifying the vehicles. 11 The EPA further asserts that it may apply sound technical judgment to determine whether a fuel is expected to have an instantaneous or deteriorative effect on emissions and that, where alternative methodologies are available for evaluating the long-term effects of a fuel, nothing in the Act or its legislative history precludes the use of these alternatives to the costly and time-consuming method of actual 50,000-mile testing. See Brief for EPA at 13-14. 24 We find merit in both petitioners' and the EPA's arguments on this issue. We agree with petitioners that both the language of section 211(f)(4) and its legislative history specifically provide that, for a fuel to qualify for a waiver, the EPA must determine that the fuel will not cause or contribute to a vehicle's failure to meet the applicable standards at any time during its useful life. On the other hand, we also find persuasive the EPA's argument that actual 50,000-mile durability testing may not always be required to make the requisite determination that a fuel will not cause a vehicle to exceed emission standards over its useful life. Clear evidence before the EPA may allow it to conclusively rule out the possibility of long-term, deteriorative effects, thus making the EPA's Deteriorated Emissions Test sufficient and obviating the need for actually conducting costly and time-consuming 50,000-mile durability tests. 12 Section 211(f)(4) only requires that the EPA determine that a fuel will not cause or contribute to a failure of an emission device to comply with applicable emission standards during a vehicle's useful life, it does not specify that the EPA must base this determination on actual 50,000-mile durability tests in all cases. Nonetheless, given section 211(f)(4)'s clear directive that the EPA must evaluate the effect of a fuel over the useful life of a vehicle, the EPA must have a clearly sound basis for determining in a given case that back-to-back testing provides an adequate and sufficient means of evaluation in lieu of actual 50,000-mile testing. 25 In the present case, however, we are compelled to find that the Administrator apparently lacked any rational basis for concluding that Petrocoal will not cause or contribute to a vehicle's failure to comply with emission standards over its useful life. The Administrator's stated rationale for concluding that Petrocoal will have only an instantaneous, not deteriorative, effect on emissions, simply fails to withstand careful scrutiny. Moreover, even if we accepted the validity of this conclusion, Petrocoal failed--albeit marginally--the Deteriorated Emissions Test performed in lieu of 50,000-mile testing. See infra section III-B. Under these circumstances, we have no doubt that the EPA abused its discretion in determining that Petrocoal will not cause a vehicle to exceed the emission standards over its useful life. 13 26 The Administrator's stated rationale for concluding that 50,000-mile durability testing was unnecessary for Petrocoal rests entirely on three prior waiver decisions: 27 Experience with other oxygenated hydrocarbon additives similar to the alcohols contained in Petrocoal has led EPA to believe that only an instantaneous emission effect should be observed with Petrocoal. 28 Petrocoal Waiver, 46 Fed.Reg. at 48,977 & n. 6 (citing waiver decisions for TBA, 44 Fed.Reg. 10,530 (1979), MTBE, 44 Fed.Reg. 12,242 (1979), and Oxinal, 44 Fed.Reg. 37,074 (1979)). The sufficiency of this rationale turns on whether the reasoning and data supporting the three cited waivers can be generalized to reasonably support a conclusion that Petrocoal will have only instantaneous, not deteriorative, emission effects thus obviating the need for 50,000-mile testing. Upon a review of the three waiver decisions, we conclude that they fail either singularly or in combination to provide a reasonably sufficient basis for the EPA's conclusion. 29 In the TBA waiver decision, the EPA granted ARCO a waiver for a fuel additive, Arconol, in a concentration of 0 to 7 volume percent, which consists primarily of tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA). See TBA Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 10,530 & n. 2. No 50,000-mile durability testing was conducted. The EPA concluded that back-to-back testing would provide a reasonable estimate of a vehicle's emission performance on Arconol based upon an examination of the available data on materials compatibility 14 and the chemistry of Arconol. Id. at 10,531 & n. 9. The EPA further noted that ARCO had been using up to 5% Arconol since 1970 and up to 7% since 1974 without apparent material compatibility problems. Therefore, the vehicle manufacturers should have already accommodated for Arconol in their design. Id. at 10,532 n. 16. 30 In the MTBE waiver decision, the EPA granted ARCO a waiver for methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in a concentration range of 0 to 7 volume percent. See MTBE Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 12,243. As in the TBA waiver, the EPA determined that 50,000-mile durability testing was unnecessary based upon an examination of the available data on materials compatibility and the chemistry of MTBE. Id. at n. 10. The EPA's conclusion here that 50,000-mile test data should not be required was, however, supported by limited durability data. Id. at 12,244 n. 11. Specifically the EPA referenced a limited durability test program conducted by Texaco using six vehicles, each of which accumulated 20,000 miles on a dynamometer. 31 Finally in the Oxinal waiver decision, the EPA granted Sun Petroleum Products Company a waiver for a proprietary oxygenated hydrocarbon fuel additive which provides no more than two percent oxygen in the fuel. Oxinal Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 37,074. At the time of the waiver grant, the composition of Oxinal was kept confidential. The waiver was predicated, inter alia, upon the condition that the Administrator could revoke the waiver based on new data submitted after the public disclosure of Oxinal's chemical composition. Id. A subsequent disclosure notice revealed that Oxinal was comprised of a maximum of 2.75 percent by volume of TBA and 2.75 percent by volume of methanol. See 45 Fed.Reg. 9766 (1980) (notice of disclosure of chemical composition of fuel additive); see also 45 Fed.Reg. 75,755 (1980) (denial of petition to revoke waiver following disclosure of chemical composition). This is the only cited waiver decision which contained methanol, the principal alcohol used in Petrocoal. Once again the EPA concluded, based upon an examination of the available materials compatibility data and the chemistry of the fuel additive, that 50,000-mile durability data testing was not required. See Oxinal Waiver, 44 Fed.Reg. at 37,076 & n. 10. The EPA also noted that limited durability test data (one vehicle tested at the end of 20,000 miles) supported its conclusion. Id. at n. 11. 32 While we intimate no opinion as to the propriety of the EPA's conclusion that 50,000-mile durability testing was not essential in these three waiver decisions, we find the EPA's bootstrap approach of relying on them to support a conclusion that 50,000-mile testing was likewise not required for Petrocoal extremely troubling. Not only were the TBA, MTBE, and Oxinal waiver decisions themselves predicated on a conclusion that 50,000-mile testing was unnecessary but this conclusion in each case was purportedly based on an evaluation of the materials compatibility data available on and the chemical composition of the particular fuel or fuel additive at issue. 15 Out of the three, only Oxinal contained methanol, the principal alcohol in Petrocoal, and it contained only 2.75 percent by volume methanol whereas Petrocoal may contain up to 12 percent by volume methanol. 16 We find this factor particularly telling given the well-recognized special concerns raised specifically with respect to the potential adverse deteriorative effects of using methanol/gasoline blend fuels. See generally J. Keller, G. Nakaguchi, & J. Ware, Final Report: Methanol Fuel Modification for Highway Vehicle Use, Prepared for U.S. Dep't of Energy (HCP/W3683-18) (July 1978). 17 33 Indeed, at the time the EPA granted the Petrocoal waiver, it had denied two previous waiver applications for methanol fuel additives. See Denial of Conservation Consultants of New England, Inc.'s (Conservation) Application for a Fuel Additive Waiver, 45 Fed.Reg. 53,861 (1980); Denial of Beker Industries, Inc.'s (Beker) Application for a Fuel Additive Waiver, 45 Fed.Reg. 26,122 (1980). 18 Particularly relevant is the EPA's general characterization and recognition of the potential problems associated with methanol/gasoline blends set forth in the Beker decision: 34 To summarize, the various data on methanol/gasoline mixtures are not encouraging. Generally such mixtures exhibit only slight effects on tailpipe exhaust emissions, but they generally appear to have appreciably greater evaporative emissions than gasoline. This is because of the higher volatility of fuels containing a significant amount (approximately 10%) of methanol. Methanol/gasoline mixtures are also more chemically active than gasoline because of the methanol. Thus, such mixtures may exhibit materials compatibility problems. Finally, driveability may be a problem at higher concentrations of methanol because of the increased oxygen content of the fuel.... 35 These observations on methanol/gasoline fuels. [sic] ... are not intended as final judgments concerning methanol, but to highlight EPA's concerns about methanol/gasoline fuels[. A waiver request for such methanol/gasoline fuels] will have to be supported by sufficient data to overcome the existing data which suggest that methanol/gasoline mixtures may cause or contribute to a failure of vehicles to comply with emission standards over their useful life. 36 Beker Waiver, 45 Fed.Reg. at 26,124. 37 In the context of evaluating the Petrocoal waiver request, a technical report was prepared which reviewed the available literature on the compatibility effects of methanol/gasoline blends containing 10-15 percent methanol, with special attention to the beneficial effects of inhibitors and four-carbon (C-4) alcohols in compensating for the adverse effects of methanol. See R. Garbe, Technical Report: A Review of the Compatibility of Methanol/Gasoline Blends with Motor Vehicle Fuel Systems (May 1981), reprinted in Brief for MVMA, Appendix I. While not purporting to represent the EPA's final position or to be based on the specific testing of Petrocoal, the report, nonetheless reached the following general conclusion based on a review of data available on methanol/gasoline blends: [T]here appears to be no available data, either in the published literature or supplied by [American Methyl], which would conclusively demonstrate that Petrocoal would be safe (from an emission control standpoint) to operate in currently available motor vehicles over long time periods. Id. at 4. The report recommended that emissions durability to 50,000 miles should be demonstrated. Id. In the Petrocoal waiver decision itself, although concluding 50,000-mile durability testing unnecessary, the EPA equivocated stating: 38 In reviewing future waiver applications for fuel containing high percentages of methanol without the presence of cosolvents and special inhibitors some long-term durability testing may be [required]. 39 Petrocoal Waiver, 46 Fed.Reg. at 48,977 (footnote omitted). The EPA further said that such a determination would have to be made on a case-by-case basis. Id. at n. 9. 40 As the foregoing discussion of the three waiver decisions and the special concerns raised about methanol blends amply illustrates, the TBA, MTBE, and Oxinal waiver decisions can in no way be construed to provide a reasonable basis for the EPA's conclusion that Petrocoal--a fuel containing up to 12 percent methanol--would have only instantaneous, not deteriorative, effects. The presence of undisclosed special inhibitors and cosolvents in Petrocoal does not change this conclusion. The effectiveness of the additives at preventing any potential deteriorative effects resulting from the use of a methanol blend fuel similar to Petrocoal was neither at issue nor established by the three cited waiver decisions. Cf. infra p. 401 (discussing relevance of proprietary inhibitor with respect to materials compatibility). 41