   UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

        ANN ARBOR, MI 48105

December 17, 2009

                                                                        
                                        	      			                    
OFFICE OF 	                                                             
                                                                        
                       	               									             AIR AND
RADIATION

MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT:	Meeting with Lake Carriers Association on 9 November 2009

FROM:	Byron Bunker

		Office of Transportation and Air Quality

TO:		Docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2007-0121		

	On November 9, 2009, representatives from the Lake Carriers Association
(LCA) visited EPA to meet with Gina McCarthy, Assistant Administrator
Office of Air and Radiation.  The purpose of this meeting was to discuss
the impact of the proposed Emission Control Area standards on shippers
operating on the Great Lakes.  The LCA also asked how EPA intended to
implement the recommendations of Congress contained in EPA’s 2010
appropriations bill.  EPA expressed its intent to draft regulatory
provisions consistent with all of the recommendations of the Congress. 
The Lake Carriers Association expressed its willingness to provide any
information necessary for the Agency to do that.  EPA provided the Lake
Carriers Association with an example of a hardship provision from a
previous fuel rule to indicate the kind of information typically
gathered by the Agency in considering a hardship provision.  The fuel
hardship language from the 2004 Nonroad rule that was provided to the
LCA is included at the end of this memo.

Participants in this meeting included:

Gina McCarthy	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Don Zinger		U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

John Hannon		U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Lori Stewart		U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Byron Bunker		U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (by video phone)

Amber Aranda		U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Jim Weakley		Lake Carriers Association

Mark Ruge 		Lake Carriers Association

Tom Wiater 		Central Marine Logistics

Pierre Pelletreau 	American Steamship

Gregg Ruhl 		Great Lakes Fleet

Mark Barker 		Interlake Steamship



Nonroad Diesel Rule (69 FR 39053-39054)

Regulatory Text:  § 80.560 How can a refiner seek temporary relief from
the requirements of this  subpart in case of extreme hardship
circumstances?

(a) EPA may, at its discretion, grant a refiner of crude oil that
processes crude oil through refinery processing units, for one or more
of its refineries, temporary relief from some or all of the provisions
of this subpart. Such relief shall be no less stringent than the small
refiner

compliance options specified in § 80.552 for motor vehicle diesel fuel
and § 80.554 for NRLM diesel fuel. EPA may grant such relief provided
that the refiner demonstrates that—

(1) Unusual circumstances exist that impose extreme hardship and
significantly affect the refiner’s ability to comply by the applicable
date; and

(2) It has made best efforts to comply with the requirements of this
subpart.

(b)(1) For motor vehicle diesel fuel, applications must be submitted to
EPA by June 1, 2002 to the following address: 

U.S. EPA—Attn: Diesel Hardship,

Transportation and Regional Programs Division (6406J)

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460

(certified mail/return receipt) or Attn:

Diesel Hardship, Transportation and Regional Programs Division

1310 L Street, NW., 6th floor

Washington, DC 20005 (express mail/return receipt).

EPA reserves the right to deny applications for appropriate reasons,
including unacceptable environmental impact. Approval to distribute
motor vehicle diesel fuel not subject to the 15

ppm sulfur standard may be granted for such time period as EPA
determines is appropriate, but shall not extend beyond May 31, 2010.

(2) For NRLM diesel fuel, applications must be submitted to EPA by June
1, 2005 to the following address: U.S.

EPA—Attn: Diesel Hardship

Transportation and Regional Programs Division (6406J)

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

Washington, DC 20460 (certified mail/return receipt) or 

Attn: Diesel Hardship

Transportation and Regional Programs Division

1310 L Street, NW., 6th floor

Washington, DC 20005 (express mail/return receipt).

EPA reserves the right to deny applications for appropriate reasons,
including unacceptable environmental impact. Approval to distribute NRLM
diesel fuel not subject to the 500 ppm

sulfur standard may be granted for such time period as EPA determines is
appropriate, but shall not extend beyond May 31, 2010 for NR diesel fuel
and May 31, 2012 for NRLM diesel fuel.

Approval to distribute NRLM diesel fuel not subject to the 15 ppm sulfur
standard may be granted for such time period as EPA determines is
appropriate, but shall not extend beyond May 31, 2014.

* * * * *

(d) Applicants must provide, at a minimum, the following information:

(1) Detailed description of efforts to obtain capital for refinery
investments and efforts made to obtain credits for compliance under §
80.531 for motor vehicle diesel fuel or §§ 80.535 through

80.536 for NRLM diesel fuel; 

(2) Bond rating of entity that owns the refinery (in the case of joint
ventures, include the bond rating of the joint venture entity and the
bond ratings of all partners; in the case of corporations,

include the bond ratings of any parent or subsidiary corporations); and

(3) Estimated capital investment needed to comply with the requirements
of this subpart by the applicable date. 

(e) In addition to the application requirements of paragraph (b) through
(d) of this section, a refiner’s application for temporary relief
under this paragraph (e) must also include a

compliance plan. Such compliance plan shall demonstrate how the refiner
will engage in a quality assurance testing program, where appropriate,
to ensure that the following conditions are met: 

(1)(i) Its motor vehicle diesel fuel subject solely to the sulfur
standards under § 80.520(c) has not caused motor vehicle diesel fuel
subject to the 15 ppm sulfur standard § 80.520(a)(1) to fail to

comply with that standard; or

(ii) Its NRLM diesel fuel subject solely to the 500 ppm sulfur standard
under § 80.510(a) has not caused NRLM diesel fuel subject to the 15 ppm
sulfur standard under § 80.510(b) or (c) to fail

to comply with that standard.

(2) The quality assurance program must at least include periodic
sampling and testing at the party’s own facilities and at downstream
facilities in the refiner’s or importer’s diesel fuel

distribution system, to determine compliance with the applicable sulfur
standards for both categories of motor vehicle diesel fuel; examination
at the party’s own facilities and at applicable

downstream facilities, of product transfer documents to confirm
appropriate transfers and deliveries of both products; and inspection of
retailer and wholesale purchaser-consumer

pump stands for the presence of the labels and warning signs required
under this section. Any violations that are discovered shall be reported
to EPA within 48 hours of discovery.

* * * * *

(h) Refiners who are granted a hardship relief standard for any refinery
and importers of fuel subject to temporary foreign refiner relief
standards, must comply with the requirements of § 80.561(f).

(i) EPA may impose any reasonable conditions on waivers under this
section, including limitations on the refinery’s volume of motor
vehicle diesel fuel and NRLM diesel fuel subject

to temporary refiner relief standards. 

* * * * *

(k) The individual refinery sulfur standard and the compliance plan will
be approved or disapproved by the Administrator, and approval will be
effective when the refiner receives an

approval letter from EPA. Unless approved, the refiner or, where
applicable, the importer must comply with the motor vehicle diesel fuel
standard under § 80.520(a)(1) by the

appropriate compliance date specified in § 80.500 or the NRLM diesel
fuel standards and compliance dates under § 80.510(a), (b), and (c) as
applicable. 

(l) If EPA finds that a refiner provided false or inaccurate information
on its application for hardship relief, EPA’s approval of the refiners
application will be void ab initio.

