[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 56 (Friday, March 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17660-17661]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-06657]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9792-9]


Draft Guidance for E85 Flexible Fuel Vehicle Weighting Factor for 
Model Years 2016-2019 Vehicles Under the Light-Duty Greenhouse Gas 
Emissions Program

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: EPA is requesting comment on draft EPA guidance to auto 
manufacturers for weighting the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a 
flexible fuel vehicle operating on E85 with the GHG emissions of the 
vehicle operating on conventional gasoline, when calculating the 
compliance value to use for EPA's GHG emissions standards. EPA also 
invites comment on the analysis used by EPA to determine the weighting 
factor.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 22, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ- 
OAR-2013-0120, by one of the following methods:
     On-Line at http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the On- Line 
Instructions for Submitting Comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: (202) 566-1741.
     Mail: Air and Radiation Docket, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2013- 0120, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 6102T, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460. Please include a total 
of two copies.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, Public Reading Room, EPA 
West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20460. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal 
hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for 
deliveries of boxed information.
    On-Line Instructions for Submitting Comments: Direct your comments 
to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013- 0120. EPA's policy is that all 
comments received will be included in the public docket without change 
and may be made available online at http://www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided, unless the comment 
includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information 
(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise 
protected through http://www.regulations.gov or email.
    The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' 
system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact 
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you 
send an email comment directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your email address will automatically be captured 
and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket 
and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic 
comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact 
information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you 
submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties 
and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to 
consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special 
characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or 
viruses. For additional information about EPA's public docket visit the 
EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Materials relevant to this proceeding are contained in the Air and 
Radiation Docket and Information Center, maintained in Docket ID No. 
EPA-HQ- OAR-2013-0120. Publicly available docket materials are 
available either electronically through http://www.regulations.gov or 
in hard copy at the Air and Radiation Docket in the EPA Headquarters 
Library, EPA West Building, Room 3334, located at 1301 Constitution 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is open to the 
public on all federal government work days from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; 
generally, it is open Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. The 
telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744. The Air and 
Radiation Docket and Information Center's Web site is http://www.epa.gov/oar/docket.html. The electronic mail (email) address for 
the Air and Radiation Docket is: [email protected], the telephone 
number is (202) 566-1742, and the fax number is (202) 566-9744. An 
electronic version of the public docket is available through the 
federal government's electronic public docket and comment system. You 
may access EPA dockets at http://www.regulations.gov. After opening the 
http://www.regulations.gov Web site, enter EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0120 in the 
``Enter Keyword or ID'' fill-in box to view documents in the record. 
Although a part of the official docket, the public docket does not 
include Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roberts French, Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, 
Compliance Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 
Traverwood Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48105. Telephone: (734) 214-4380. Fax: 
(734) 214-4869. Email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Under EPA's greenhouse gas (GHG) program for passenger automobiles 
and light trucks, starting with the 2016 model year, the regulations 
describe two pathways for determining the GHG value for flexible fuel 
vehicles (FFVs) that run either on gasoline or on E85 (a fuel mixture 
of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline). The default approach is 
to use the GHG emissions of the vehicle operated solely on gasoline 
(see 40 CFR 600.510-12). The alternative is to combine the gasoline and 
E85 GHG values together in a way that accounts for real-world use of 
E85 by using a weighting factor.\1\ When the weighting factor is used, 
the emissions value used for the vehicle model in the fleet average 
calculations would be determined by weighting the gasoline and E85 
values of the model together using the specified factor (see 40 CFR 
600.510-12(k)).
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    \1\ The tailpipe GHG emissions used for compliance with the 
CO2 standards described in 40 CFR 86.1818 are the carbon-
containing emissions (generally, CO2, hydrocarbons, and 
carbon monoxide), which are summed based on the carbon weight 
fraction of each component into a value described in the regulations 
as the ``carbon-related exhaust emissions'' (CREE). For simplicity, 
however, in this notice we are using the term CO2 instead 
of CREE, as CO2 is more broadly understood and makes up 
the vast majority of the total carbon emissions from vehicles.
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    EPA's regulations establish two different approaches that may be 
used to determine the value of the weighting factor. Manufacturers may 
request that EPA determine and publish by guidance an appropriate value 
for the E85 weighting factor based on EPA's assessment of the real-
world use of E85. Alternatively, a manufacturer may

[[Page 17661]]

submit data demonstrating the actual real-world use of E85 by its 
vehicles. EPA would determine whether the data is adequate and what an 
appropriate weighting factor should be for the manufacturer.
    In mid-2012, manufacturers requested that EPA provide a weighting 
factor to use for 2016 and later model year vehicles. EPA has assessed 
the weighting factor that would be appropriate to use and intends to 
issue guidance to vehicle manufacturers regarding the E85 weighting 
factor (called the F factor) that may be used by manufacturers for 
weighting the CO2 of FFVs using E85 and conventional 
gasoline. EPA intends to establish the weighting factor for the 2016 
model year. The weighting factor may also be used for the 2017-2019 
model years unless EPA takes action to revise the factor for the later 
model years based on new information or data.
    EPA seeks input by the public prior to our issuing final F factor 
guidance, and requests comment on the value that we have determined and 
on the methodology used to derive this value. We have placed a draft 
guidance letter, including a support document attachment that provides 
additional background and describes the methodology used by EPA to 
determine the weighting factor, in the EPA Air Docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-
0120 and available at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/ld-hwy/greenhouse/ld-ghg.htm. The draft guidance letter provides for use of a weighting 
factor of 0.2.
    Interested parties should submit comments according to the 
guidelines described in this notice. After fully considering the 
comments we receive, we will issue a final guidance document.

II. Procedures for Public Participation

    EPA will keep the record open until April 22, 2013. All information 
will be available for inspection at the EPA Air Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2013-0120. Persons with comments containing proprietary information 
must distinguish such information from other comments to the greatest 
extent possible and label it as ``Confidential Business Information'' 
(``CBI''). If a person making comments wants EPA to base its decision 
on a submission labeled as CBI, then a non-confidential version of the 
document that summarizes the key data or information should be 
submitted to the public docket. To ensure that proprietary information 
is not inadvertently placed in the public docket, submissions 
containing such information should be sent directly to the contact 
person listed above and not to the public docket. Information covered 
by a claim of confidentiality will be disclosed by EPA only to the 
extent allowed, and according to the procedures set forth in 40 CFR 
part 2. If no claim of confidentiality accompanies the submission when 
EPA receives it, EPA will make it available to the public without 
further notice to the person making comments.

    Dated: March 15, 2013.
Christopher Grundler,
Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Office of Air and 
Radiation.
[FR Doc. 2013-06657 Filed 3-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P