Gasoline Sulfur

More Information on Gasoline Sulfur

Click here to view NPRA's latest summary of the final rule

The implications of this EPA rulemaking are summarized in Chapter 2 of the June 2000 National Petroleum Council report, "U.S. Petroleum Refining, Assuring the Adequacy and Affordability of Cleaner Fuels." Visit www.npc.org

For EPA information:
http://www.epa.gov/tier2/
http://www.epa.gov/tier2/finalrule.htm
http://www.epa.gov/tier2/comphelp.htm

EVENTS SINCE PROMULGATION OF THE EPA GASOLINE SULFUR FINAL RULE IN FEBRUARY 2000

March 6, 2000	EPA's Guidance to Parties Submitting Gasoline Sulfur Baseline Applications released
March 14, 2000	Implementation workshop
May 3, 2000	First EPA Q&A document
December 18, 2000	Second EPA Q&A document
January 19, 2001	EPA released a direct final rule and concurrent proposal with an expansion of GPA and many corrections, revisions and amendments
January 29 & 30, 2001	EPA distributed electronic formats for early credit reporting
April 13, 2001	EPA's direct final rule and concurrent proposal with an expansion of GPA and many corrections, revisions and amendments published in the Federal Register.
June 12, 2002	EPA's direct final rule and concurrent proposal with many corrections and revisions published in the Federal Register.
July 29, 2003	EPA enforcement discretion letter to permit an alternative butane sulfur and three gasoline sulfur ASTM test methods
October 7, 2003	Alternative sulfur test methods direct final rule published in the Federal Register.
January 1, 2004	End of composite sampling for sulfur testing of conventional gasoline Sulfur cap effective at refinery Product transfer document requirements effective for GPA gasoline and small refiner gasoline Annual corporate pool sulfur average requirement began.
August 18, 2004	EPA signed an enforcement discretion letter to exempt the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Territory of American Samoa, and the Territory of Guam.
January 1, 2005	Annual maximum 30 ppm average sulfur requirement began for importers and most refineries
October 31, 2005	EPA signed another enforcement discretion letter to extend this option to exempt the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Territory of American Samoa, and the Territory of Guam.
November 22, 2005	EPA's Direct Final Rule that added Klickitat County in the state of Washington to the Geographic Phase-in Area published in the Federal Register.
December 22, 2005	The Agency signed enforcement discretion letters that allow ASTM D 7039-04 as an alternative gasoline sulfur test method and extend the use of ASTM D 6667 as an alternative butane sulfur test method.
January 1, 2006	Sulfur cap at most refineries dropped to 80 ppm.
January 6, 2006	EPA's amendments in the DFR (70 FR 70498; 11/22/05) effective
March 1, 2006	EPA issued an enforcement discretion letter for gasoline sulfur at marinas
April 3, 2006	EPA's Direct Final Rule on gasoline, diesel test methods published in the Federal Register.
June 2, 2006	EPA amendments in DFR (71 FR 16492; 4/3/06) on gasoline, diesel test methods effective
Sept. 20, 2006	EPA issued a final rule that edits the credit generation provisions of the Geographic Phase-in Area gasoline sulfur program (71 FR 54908). This was effective on 1/1/07.
Jan. 1, 2007	GPA gasoline expired at some refineries and was replaced by 80 ppm sulfur cap and maximum 30 ppm sulfur annual average (unless it has a two-year extension and produces ULSD in 2006 and later).
Jan. 1, 2008	Small refinery interim sulfur regulations expired and were replaced by 80 ppm sulfur cap and maximum 30 ppm sulfur annual average (unless it has a three-year extension and produces ULSD in 2006 and later).