December 8, 2003

Congress to Meet This Week, At Least Briefly

RFG and Supply Issues

Miscellaneous Items

New Ozone Non-Attainment Area Designations Approaching

CONGRESS TO MEET THIS WEEK, AT LEAST BRIEFLY

Congress, which had originally “targeted” to adjourn on Oct. 3 of this year, is still at it. Both the House and Senate are to be back in town this week to act on a huge Omnibus Appropriations Bill, providing funding in place of 7 of the 13 appropriations bills that are usually enacted. The House is scheduled to act today (Monday, Dec. 8) with the Senate to consider the legislation on Tuesday.

House approval of the bill is considered a “sure bet”, but Senate action remains up in the air. The problem? Sen. Majority Leader Frist (R-TN) had planned to pass the bill by “unanimous consent”, meaning there would be no recorded vote on it. However, Sen. Byrd (D-WV) said last week that he will object to such a request, insisting on a recorded vote.

Although the bill contains many provisions that are widely agreed to, the final bill was negotiated between the White House and Republican leaders and includes many provisions that weren’t even debated in the House or Senate, and also excludes provisions that both houses had originally approved. Among the “included” provisions are many “pork-barrel” provisions for funding of specific projects in the home districts and states of (mostly) Republican lawmakers, as well as a variety of provisions about government operations that wouldn’t have passed either house as stand-alone measures. Among the “excluded” provisions are a rider that would block the Dept. of Labor from implementing the new overtime rules SIGMA supports (i.e., we’re glad the provision is excluded from the bill), plus a rider that would limit media ownership by a single company.

If Congress fails to enact the Omnibus bill this week, it is likely they won’t consider it again until January. The government is currently operating under a “Continuing Resolution” that funds the remaining agencies at last year’s level through Jan. 31, so a government shutdown isn’t in the cards. 

RFG & SUPPLY ISSUES

In signs that EPA is reacting to concerns about supply disruptions, preliminary approval and an “enforcement discretion” have been issued for the RFG areas of NY and CT to allow for a consortium testing system to be developed for ethanol-based RFG and RBOB (Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending) in those areas. We sent a special notice mid-week last week to all members who market in those areas. A copy of the EPA notice is on our website, and is available by clicking here.  An additional sign is that EPA is planning a meeting with industry groups (SIGMA has been invited) as well as state and local officials on Dec. 19 regarding “gasoline supply emergencies”. We don’t yet know the agenda of the meeting, but think it might pertain to when and how EPA plans to grant waivers, etc., in times of supply disruptions.

The invitation to the meeting came from EPA’s enforcement chief for RFG. A final note: MTBE manufacturers, as well as NYMEX officials and the Federal Dept. of Energy, are warning of potential price spikes in the range of 30 to 40 cents per gallon in the Northeast related to the NY and CT bans on MTBE as of 1/1/04.    

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

The Bush Administration is working to put together a strategy by the end of Dec. for a new major push on an energy bill early in 2004, according to press reports . . . A report from Michigan notes that Michigan State University researchers are examining less-expensive methods to produce ethanol . . . On Nov. 25, a federal Administrative Law Judge dismissed an FTC complaint against Unocal regarding its patents for RFG and California RFG. The lawsuit had claimed that Unocal made false and misleading statements in its work with CARB and other industry players in the development of the standards, but the judge ruled that Unocal was exempt under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine . . . RSPA, the Research and Special Programs Administration of the federal Dept. of Transportation, has issued new reporting requirements for hazmat transporters that are effective 7/1/04. The new reporting form and instructions are available online at http://hazmat.dot.gov/spills.htm or by fax-on-demand at 800-467-4922. For the most part, the new forms simplify the reporting process, but there are some additional reporting requirements to RSPA for spills during loading/unloading, as well as for damage to tanks during loading/unloading. 

NEW OZONE NON-ATTAINMENT AREA DESIGNATIONS APPROACHING

EPA and the states are moving forward in the process of designating ozone non-attainment areas under the new, more-stringent 8-hour standard. That process is scheduled to reach its final stage in April 2004, with EPA issuing its final designations. States will then have three years to put into place new SIPs (state implementation plans) to bring non-attainment areas into compliance. It is at that point that our industry is directly affected – with requirements for Stage II Vapor Recovery, RFG, or other boutique fuel specifications being among the prime targets of SIPs.

Last summer, states were supposed to recommend to EPA those areas that should be designated as non-attainment. A list of those state recommendations follows. On Dec. 4, letters went back to the states indicating EPA’s preliminary decisions on designations. That listing is not yet available. EPA says that it has “for the most part” followed state recommendations, but in some cases disagreed.

The following listing includes all counties (and independent cities, italicized) which states recommended be considered in non-attainment of the ozone standard, even if only part of the county or city was to be included.

ME: Androscoggin, Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo & York. NH: Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham & Stratford. VT: (None). MA: Barnstable, Berkshire, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk & Worcester. RI: Bristol, Kent, Newport, Providence & Washington. CT: Fairfield, Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New London, Tolland & Windham. NY: Bronx, Chautauqua, Dutchess, Erie, Jefferson, Kings, Nassau, New York, Niagara, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk & Westchester. NJ: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, New Jersey, Somerset, Sussex, Union & Warren. PA: Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Berks, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clearfield, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Mercer, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Philadelphia, Washington, Westmoreland, Wyoming & York. DE: Kent, New Castle & Sussex. MD: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Hartford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Queene Annes, Washington & Baltimore city,. DC: (All). WV: Brooke, Cabell, Hancock, Kanawha, Marshall, Ohio, Putnam, Wayne & Wood. VA: Arlington, Botetourt, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Hanover, Henrico, James City, Loudoun, Madison, Page, Prince William, Roanoke, Spotsylvania, Stafford, York, & cities of Chesapeake, Colonial Heights, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Hampton, Hopewell, Manassas, Manassas Park, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Richmond, Roanoke, Salem, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, & Winchester. NC: Alamance, Alexander, Buncombe, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Caswell, Catawba, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson, Davie, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Franklin, Gaston, Granville, Guilford, Iredell, Johnston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Orange, Person, Randolph, Rockingham, Rowan, Union & Wake. SC: Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Cherokee, Darlington, Florence, Greenville, Lexington, Pickens, Richland & Spartanburg. GA: Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Richmond, Rockdale, Spalding & Walton. FL: (None). AL: Jefferson, Morgan & Shelby. MS: DeSoto. TN: Anderson, Blount, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Meigs, Putnam, Rutherford, Sevier, Shelby, Sullivan, Sumner, Washington, Williamson & Wilson. KY: Bell, Boone, Boyd, Bullitt, Campbell, Christian, Jefferson, Kenton, Oldham & Warren. OH: Allen, Ashtabula, Butler, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Geauga, Greene, Hamilton, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Mahoning, Medina, Miami, Montgomery, Portage, Stark, Summitt, Trumbull, Warren, Washington & Wood. MI: Allegan, Benzie, Berrien, Cass, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Mason, Monroe, Muskegon, Oakland, Oceana, Ottawa, St. Clair, Washtenaw & Wayne. IN: Allen, Boone, Clark, Delaware, Elkhart, Floyd, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, La Porte, Lake, Madison, Marion, Morgan, Porter, Shelby, St. Joseph, Vigo & Warrick. IL: Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Jersey, Kane, Kendall, Lake, Madison, McHenry, Monroe, St. Clair & Will. WI: Door, Jefferson, Kenosha, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington & Waukesha. MN: (None). IA: (None.) MO: Cass, Clay, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Platte, St. Charles, St. Louis & St Louis city. AR: Crittenden, Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski & Saline. LA: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Jefferson, Livingston & West Baton Rouge. TX: Bexar, Brazoria, Chambers, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Fort Bend, Galveston, Gregg, Hardin, Harris, Jefferson, Johnson, Liberty, Montgomery, Orange, Parker, Tarrant, Travis & Waller. OK: (None.) KS: Johnson & Wyandotte. NE: (None). SD: (None). ND: (None). MT: (None). WY: (None). CO: (None). NM: (None). AZ: Maricopa. UT: (None). NV: (None). ID: (None). WA: (None). OR: (None). CA: Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura & Yolo. AK: (None). HI: (No recommendations submitted).    

SIGMA Weekly Report December 8, 2003 © Copyright SIGMA