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6 • OIL
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ENERGY
EPA to Reconsider Key Provisions
in Recent Stationary Generator Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will reconsider a
recently finalized regulation requiring the use of ultra-low sulfur diesel
fuel in backup stationary engines that generate electricity for civil and
commercial operations during power outages. The EPA will also
reconsider provisions in the rule that would require operators to file
reports on engine location and dates and times of operation.
The reconsideration is important to NEFI members in order to
prevent conversion of emergency generators from oil to natural gas.
The reconsideration addresses a final rule setting National Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) allowing backup
stationary engines that generate electricity to run without emissions
controls for 100 hours per year during electricity peak-use periods and
emergencies. Previously, reciprocating internal combustion engines,
which are used in industrial, medical, agricultural, oil and gas
production, and power generation facilities, were exempt from
emissions control requirements if they operated for fewer than 15 hours.
In the final rule, the EPA included a requirement that engines use
ULSD beginning Jan. 1, 2015. However, environmental groups are
requesting reconsideration because they want the rule implemented
immediately. Environmental groups also are requesting the EPA to
reconsider a provision in the rule that would allow engine operators to
use fuel purchased before January 1, 2015 until depleted. The
environmental groups contend this provision could allow engine
operators to stockpile diesel fuel with higher-sulfur content for use
after Jan. 1, 2015. The organizations said EPA only should allow the
continued use of fuel that operators purchased as of the date EPA
proposes the reconsideration – June 28, 2013. NEFI will submit
comments on the proposed reconsiderations.
EPA Warns Against Use of Unapproved Substitute
Refrigerants in Residential Air Conditioning Units
The EPA is warning homeowners, propane marketers, home
improvement contractors and air conditioning technicians of potential
safety hazards related to the use of propane or other unapproved
refrigerants in home air conditioning systems.
EPA is currently investigating instances where propane has been
marketed and used as a substitute for HCFC-22 (R-22), a refrigerant
that is widely used in home air conditioning systems. Home air
conditioning systems are not designed to handle propane or other
similar flammable refrigerants. The use of these substances poses a
potential fire or explosion hazard for homeowners and service
technicians. EPA is currently investigating incidents where individuals
have been injured as a result of the use of propane and other
unapproved refrigerants in air conditioning systems. Other names for
these unapproved refrigerants include R-290, 22a, 22-A, R-22a, HC-22a,
and CARE 40.
At this time, EPA has not approved the use of propane refrigerant or
other hydrocarbon refrigerants in any type of air conditioner.
Homeowners and technicians are strongly recommended to limit use
of propane or other hydrocarbons to only those appliances specifically
designed for these substances and that are properly marked to alert
technicians that the equipment contains a flammable substance. EPA
has approved the use of propane as a substitute refrigerant for R-22 in
industrial process refrigeration systems and in new, stand-alone retail
food refrigerators and freezers that are specifically designed to use
flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants.
R-22 is being phased out of production and under a global
environmental treaty designed to reduce and eventually eliminate the
use of ozone depleting substances. EPA’s Significant New Alternatives
Policy (SNAP) program has approved numerous refrigerants with
improved environmental, health and safety profiles and continues to
evaluate other refrigerants that can be used to replace R-22 and other
ozone-depleting substances. More information about the EPA’s SNAP
program is available online. You can also find more information about
R-22a and alternatives for air conditioning.
Obamacare Deadline for Employer
Mandate Requirement Delayed One Year
The Obama
administration announced
recently that it is delaying
the compliance date under
the Affordable Care Act
(ACA) by which employers
with 50 or more full-time
employees (or the
equivalent in full- and
part-time employees) must
offer health insurance to
employees or pay a fine.
The U.S. Treasury
Department said the
decision stemmed from
widespread complaints from
the business community
that the law’s reporting
requirements were overly
complicated and would be
difficult to implement by the
original deadline. The
mandate was to have gone
into effect on January 1,
2014 but will now be delayed until January 1, 2015.
Delaying employers’ obligation to file the large reports on their
coverage has spurred questions about how the marketplaces or the
Internal Revenue Service will verify whether employer coverage meets
ACA requirements. To be exempt from the penalties, the coverage
must not cost more than 9.5 percent of an employee’s income, and it
must cover at least 60 percent, of medical claims.
The Administration said that the one-year delay will provide time
for federal regulators to simplify the new reporting requirements and
provide employers more time to adapt to health coverage and
reporting systems in order to comply with the new law. Under the
ACA, businesses with more than 50 full-time employees that do not
offer health insurance would have to pay a penalty of $2,000 per
uninsured worker after the first 30 employees.
The delay will not affect other key provisions of the ACA. For
example, health exchanges where individuals can purchase insurance
are still expected to open by Oct. 1. Industry associations praised the
decision and characterized it as a sign that the White House has been
taking the industry’s concerns about health care reform seriously.
CONTACTS:
Michael Trunzo, President & CEO:
Jim Collura, NEFI Vice President for Government Affairs:
Mark S. Morgan, Esq., New England Fuel Institute Regulatory Counsel:
Continued …
