Opinion ID: 771458
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Physical Location as the Touchstone of S 60.100(a)

Text: 56 Despite the EPA's arguments to the contrary, in determining what facilities are affected facilities that can be regulated under Subpart J, and, specifically, in determining what facilities are in petroleum refineries, the touchstone of such a determination is the physical location of the facilities in question. As noted above, 40 C.F.R. S 60.100(a) states: 57 The provisions of this subpart are applicable to the following affected facilities in petroleum refineries: fluid catalytic cracking unit catalyst regenerators, fuel gas combustion devices, and all Claus sulfur recovery plants except Claus plants of 20 long tons per day (LTD) or less. The Claus sulfur recovery plant need not be physically located within the boundaries of a petroleum refinery to be an affected facility, provided it processes gases produced within a petroleum refinery. 58 40 C.F.R. S 60.100(a) (1999) (emphasis added). For the last sentence of S 60.100(a) to make any sense, the ultimate question to be answered when determining whether certain facilities are in petroleum refineries must be: Where are the facilities physically located? 59 Although the EPA argues strenuously that the term petroleum refinery must be interpreted broadly to include not only Motiva's petroleum refinery but also an adjacent, free-standing, independent electric power plant complex that produces steam and electricity for use by the refinery (as well as other commercial customers including the local power company), the stationary gas turbines in this free- standing, independent facility are simply not in a petroleum refinery because neither the Repowering Project nor the electric power plant complex in which the Repowering Project is located engages in the production of gasoline, kerosene, distillate fuel oils, residual fuel oils, lubricants, or other products through distillation of petroleum or through redistillation, cracking or reforming of unfinished petroleum derivatives. 40 C.F .R. S 60.101(a) (1999). Moreover, the explicit inclusion in S 60.100(a) of Claus recovery plants not . . . physically located within the boundaries of a petroleum refinery, and the corresponding absence of a similar inclusion with respect to fuel gas combustion devices not . . . physically located within the boundaries of a petroleum refinery, further undermines the EPA's determination. 60