Abstract |
EPA has characterized the facilities and companies potentially affected by the NSPS by examining existing refineries and the companies that own them. EPA projects that new refineries and processes will be similar to existing ones, and that the companies owning new sources will also be similar to the companies owning existing refineries. EPA has collected data on 150 existing refineries, owned by 58 companies. Of the affected parent companies, twenty-five are identified as small entities based on the Small Business Administration size standard criteria for NAICS 324110, for they employ 1,500 or fewer employees. EPA estimates that complying with the final NSPS will have an annualized cost of approximately $31 million per year (2006 dollars) in the fifth year after proposal. Using these costs, EPA estimates that the NSPS will have limited impacts on the market for motor gasoline. Based on sales data obtained for the affected small entities, EPA estimates that, due to the expected annualized cost savings, that the NSPS will not result in a SISNOSE (a significant economic impacts for a substantial number of small entities). The final petroleum refineries NSPS is considered subject to the requirements of Circular A-4 because EPA expects that the sum of benefits and costs are potentially $1 billion or higher. EPA's estimate of the benefits of the NSPS, based on information from the PM2.5 expert elicitation study released in October, 2006, is a range from $220 million to $1.9 billion (2006 dollars) in the fifth year after proposal. |