The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week announced it will reject petitions by California, New York and Connecticut to waive the oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline.

"Congress has required the use of oxygenates as part of the clean fuels program and has made it clear that this requirement can only be waived if a state demonstrates that it prevents or interferes with the state's ability to meet national air quality standards. California, New York and Connecticut did not make this demonstration," said Assistant Administrator of Air Jeff Holmstead according to an EPA press release.
In the release, the EPA explained that reformulated gasoline is a cleaner-burning gasoline required by the Clean Air Act to be used in certain metropolitan areas of the United States. It has been used since 1995 and according to the EPA is an effective in reducing motor vehicle emissions that cause ozone, commonly called smog. Reformulated gasoline also reduces emissions of harmful toxics, such as benzene.
The Clean Air Act requires reformulated gasoline to contain 2% oxygen by weight. The law does not specify which oxygenate must be used and most refiners use either ethanol or methyl tertiary butyl ether. However, California, New York and Connecticut have banned the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether because of water contamination concerns, so the reformulated gasoline sold in those three states contains only ethanol.
The EPA’s action followed a review of information submitted by each state. This is EPA's second response to California, which sued EPA after the agency denied the state's original petition in 2001. This decision was made after EPA reviewed new information submitted by California and after EPA scientists and engineers conducted additional analysis to address the 9th Circuit Court's decision to vacate the agency's original denial.
While EPA agrees with California's claim that an oxygen content waiver would lead to a decrease in certain vehicle emissions that contribute to the formation of smog and particulate matter, EPA concludes that the overall impact on emissions is slight. The EPA said its denial of California's petition is based on a lack of evidence that the oxygen content requirement prevents or interferes with the state's efforts to achieve clean air.
EPA found that neither New York nor Connecticut submitted the technical data necessary for the agency to determine what impact the waiver would have on emissions and air quality. Without this information, EPA could not evaluate whether the oxygen content requirement prevents or interferes with attainment of the smog or particulate matter standards, and therefore must deny the waiver request.
The EPA said that since Congress created the reformulated gasoline program in 1990, much has been learned about cleaner-burning gasoline. The administration supports efforts by Congress to remove the oxygen requirement from the reformulated gasoline program and replace it with a flexible national renewable fuels program.
"This legislation would provide California, Connecticut, New York and other reformulated gasoline areas the relief they are seeking through these waiver requests without compromising the benefits of clean fuel," said Holmstead.
For more information on this action and the national reformulated gasoline
program, go to www.epa.gov/otaq/rfg_regs.htm#waiver.