[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 63 (Monday, April 2, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19663-19664]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-7895]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-0542; FRL-9654-9]
Notice of Data Availability Concerning Renewable Fuels Produced
from Palm Oil Under the RFS Program; Extension of Comment Period
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice; extension of comment period.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing
an extension in the public comment period for the ``Notice of Data
Availability Concerning Renewable Fuels Produced from Palm Oil under
the RFS Program'' (the notice is herein referred to as the ``palm oil
NODA''). EPA published a NODA, which included a request for comment, in
the Federal Register on January 27, 2012 (77 FR 4300). The public
comment period was to end on February 27, 2012--30 days after
publication in the Federal Register. On February 14, 2012, EPA
published a notice extending the comment period by 30 days until March
28, 2012. The purpose of this document is to extend the comment period
an additional 30 days until April 27, 2012. This extension of the
comment period is provided to allow the public additional time to
provide comment on the NODA.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 27, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2011-0542, by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
Email: [email protected].
Mail: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center,
Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460.
Hand Delivery: Air and Radiation Docket and Information
Center, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW.,
Washington, DC 20004. Such deliveries are only accepted during the
Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be
made for deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2011-0542. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
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 www.regulations.gov or [email protected]. The 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
www.regulations.gov your email address will be automatically 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.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Air and Radiation Docket
and Information Center, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution
Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20004. The Public Reading Room is open from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal
holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202)
566-1744, and the telephone number for the Air Docket is (202) 566-
1742.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aaron Levy, Office of Transportation
and Air Quality, Transportation and Climate Division, Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460
(MC: 6041A); telephone number: 202-564-2993; fax number: 202-564-1177;
email address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In a separate notice of data availability, EPA provided an
opportunity to comment on EPA's analyses of palm oil used as a
feedstock to produce biodiesel and renewable diesel under the Renewable
Fuel Standard (RFS) program. EPA's analysis of palm oil-based biofuels
is a supplement to the final rule published on March 26, 2010, which
made changes to the RFS program (75 FR 14670). EPA's analysis of the
two types of biofuel shows that biodiesel and renewable diesel produced
from palm oil have estimated lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
reductions of 17% and 11% respectively for these biofuels compared to
the statutory baseline petroleum-based diesel fuel used in the
[[Page 19664]]
RFS program. This analysis indicates that both palm oil-based biofuels
would not qualify as meeting the minimum 20% GHG performance threshold
for renewable fuel under the RFS program. On February 14, 2012, EPA
published a notice extending the comment period by 30 days until March
28, 2012 to provide the public additional time to comment on the NODA.
Extension of Comment Period
EPA received requests for an additional extension of the palm oil
NODA comment period from various parties. After considering all of
these comments, EPA has determined that an extension of the comment
period would provide the public adequate time to provide meaningful
comment on the NODA. However, this need must be balanced against our
desire to finalize our analysis in a timely manner. EPA believes that
an additional 30 days is an appropriate amount of time to balance these
needs. Accordingly, the public comment period for the palm oil NODA is
extended until April 27, 2012. EPA does not anticipate any further
extension of the comment period at this time.
Dated: March 27, 2012.
Margo Tsirigotis Oge,
Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality.
[FR Doc. 2012-7895 Filed 3-30-12; 8:45 am]
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