UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

REGION III

	1650 Arch Street

	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  19103

DATE:	November 16, 2010

SUBJECT:	Technical Support Document for Delaware’s Revision of
Regulation No. 1141 – Limiting Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds
from Consumer and Commercial Products, Section 3.0 – Portable Fuel
Containers

	/s/

FROM:	Irene Shandruk, Physical Scientist 

Office of Air Program Planning 

TO:		File

			/s/

THRU: 	Brian Rehn, Acting Associate Director 

Office of Air Program Planning

A.  BACKGROUND:  

Regulation No.1141 – Limiting Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds
from Consumer and Commercial Products, Section 3.0 – Portable Fuel
Containers is concerned specifically with the use of portable fuel
containers and reducing refueling emissions from equipment and engines
that are predominantly refueled with portable containers.  On November
22, 2002 (67 FR 57776), EPA approved the previous version of Section
3.0.  

Effective January 1, 2009, the EPA began to regulate emissions from
portable fuel containers (72 FR 8428).  The federal rule provides more
stringent emission control of portable fuel containers, and thereby
achieves greater VOC emission reductions than the current Delaware
regulation.  Delaware, therefore, revised Regulation No. 1141 such that
it does not apply to portable fuel containers manufactured on and after
January 1, 2009, and that Delaware would instead rely on the federal
rule to control emissions from this source.  

B.  STATE SUBMITTAL:

On April 1, 2010, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control (DNREC) submitted a revision to the Delaware State
Implementation Plan (SIP) that consists of Delaware’s regulation for
reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from portable fuel containers
(i.e. gas cans) in Delaware (Regulation No. 1141 – Limiting Emissions
of Volatile Organic Compounds from Consumer and Commercial Products,
Section 3.0 – Portable Fuel Containers).  The revision to Regulation
No. 1141 amends existing Section 3.0 – Portable Fuel Containers.   The
effective date of this regulation was April 11, 2010.   

In Delaware’s April 1, 2010 submission, an error was made in the
citation of the federal rule.  It was accidentally referenced as 37 FR
8428 when it should have read 72 FR 8428.  On September 3, 2010,
Delaware submitted a supplement to this SIP revision correcting the
typo.  The supplement consisted of a letter describing the error and
Regulation 1141 with the correct citation for the federal rule.  

Regulation No. 1141, Section 3.0 is revised to apply to any portable
fuel container or spout or both portable fuel container and spout
manufactured between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2008.  It
eliminates the applicability of Section 3.0 to portable fuel containers
manufactured on and after January 1, 2009, and instead these portable
fuel containers are regulated by federal regulation 72 FR 8428.

C.  EPA EVALUATION:

The State of Delaware is relying on the federal rule to control
emissions from portable fuel containers manufactured on and after
January 1, 2009.  This revision will continue to help Delaware reduce
VOC emissions and, therefore, attain and maintain NAAQS for ozone.  

D.  CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDED AGENCY ACTION:

Delaware’s adoption of the federal rule for portable fuel containers
(72 FR 8428) will result in greater VOC emission reductions from
portable fuel containers.  EPA approval of the SIP revision is
recommended.

  The subject of the letter in the SIP revision supplement erroneously
reads as “Delaware Implementation of the Greenhouse Tailoring Rule.”
 The body of the letter, however, describes the error in the citation in
the Portable Fuel Containers SIP submitted to EPA on April 1, 2010.  

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