The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct final action to correct, amend, and revise certain provisions of the Highway Diesel Rule and the Nonroad Diesel Rule, according to information published in the Federal Register May 1. The action is intended to help facilitate compliance with the diesel fuel regulations and ensure a smooth transition to ultra low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD).
This action corrects additional errors and omissions from the previous rules, and it makes minor changes to the regulations to assist entities with regulatory compliance. This action also makes technical amendments that resulted from discussions with various diesel stakeholders.
These technical amendments will provide a temporary increase in the sulfur testing tolerance, revise the designate and track provisions to account for non-petroleum diesel fuels (for example, biodiesel) and fuel that meets the California Air Resources Board's diesel fuel standards, and amend the alternative defense provisions to account for conductivity additives and red dye.
EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because EPA views this action as noncontroversial and anticipate no adverse comment.
However, in the Proposed Rules section of the publication, EPA is publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposal for the provisions in this direct final rule, if adverse comments are filed. If EPA receives adverse comment on one or more distinct amendment, paragraph, or section of this rulemaking, or receives a request for a hearing within the time frame allowed, it will publish a timely withdrawal indicating which provisions are being withdrawn due to adverse comment. A second comment period will not be instituted on this action.
For more information about this publication, click here for the Federal Register.