| Abstract |
Section 211(k)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency promulgate regulations establishing requirements for reformulated gasoline (RFG) to be used in gasoline-fueled vehicles in specified ozone nonattainment areas. The CAA mandates RFG use in certain nonattainment areas, based on ozone air quality and population criteria. Other ozone nonattainment areas are allowed to opt into the RFG program. Within the state of New York, RFG is mandated in the New York City Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA). Dutchess County, New York is an opt-in area. Section 211(k)(2)(B) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7545(k)(2)(B), establishes an oxygen content requirement for federal RFG, but allows EPA to waive compliance with the requirement under certain circumstances. Section 211(k)(2)(B) provides that: The oxygen content of the gasoline shall equal or exceed 2.0 percent by weight (subject to a testing tolerance established by the Administrator) except as otherwise required by this Act. The Administrator may waive, in whole or in part, the application of this subparagraph for any ozone nonattainment area upon a determination by the Administrator that compliance with such requirement would prevent or interfere with attainment by the area of a national primary ambient air quality standard. In a letter dated January 6, 2003 from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Erin Crotty to then Administrator Whitman, New York requested a waiver from the federal oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline. The submission asserted that because MTBE would be banned in the State of New York beginning January 1, 2004, and because of the Clean Air Act’s oxygen requirement, ethanol would be used as an oxygenate in the RFG areas in New York State. DEC further argued that the use of ethanol as a replacement for MTBE in RFG would result in an increase in volatile organic compounds (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) during the summer ozone season, and that these increases would prevent or interfere with New York’s ability to demonstrate reasonable further progress to attain and maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone in its RFG areas. |
