(a)
(1) To qualify as a small refiner under this section, a refiner must meet all of the following criteria:
(i) The refiner produced transportation fuel at its refineries by processing crude oil through refinery processing units from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006.
(ii) The refiner employed an average of no more than 1,500 people, based on the average number of employees for all pay periods for calendar year 2006 for all subsidiary companies, all parent companies, all subsidiaries of the parent companies, and all joint venture partners.
(iii) The refiner had a corporate-average crude oil capacity less than or equal to 155,000 barrels per calendar day (bpcd) for 2006.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the term “refiner” shall include foreign refiners.
(b)
(1) The small refiner exemption in paragraph (c) of this section is effective immediately, except as provided in paragraph (b)(5) of this section, provided that all requirements of this section are satisfied.
(2) Refiners who qualify for the small refiner exemption under paragraph (a) of this section must submit a verification letter (and any other relevant information) to EPA by July 1, 2010. The small refiner verification letter must include all of the following information for the refiner and for all subsidiary companies, all parent companies, all subsidiaries of the parent companies, and all joint venture partners:
(i) A listing of the name and address of each company location where any employee worked for the period January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006.
(ii) The average number of employees at each location based on the number of employees for each pay period for the period January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006.
(iii) The type of business activities carried out at each location.
(iv) For joint ventures, the total number of employees includes the combined employee count of all corporate entities in the venture.
(v) For government-owned refiners, the total employee count includes all government employees.
(vi) The total corporate crude oil capacity of each refinery as reported to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), for the period January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006. The information submitted to EIA is presumed to be correct. In cases where a company disagrees with this information, the company may petition EPA with appropriate data to correct the record when the company submits its application.
(vii) The verification letter must be signed by the president, chief operating or chief executive officer of the company, or his/her designee, stating that the information is true to the best of his/her knowledge, and that the company owned the refinery as of December 31, 2006.
(viii) Name, address, phone number, facsimile number, and e-mail address of a corporate contact person.
(3) In the case of a refiner who acquires or reactivates a refinery that was shutdown or non-operational between January 1, 2005 and January 1, 2006, the information required in paragraph (b)(2) of this section must be provided for the time period since the refiner acquired or reactivated the refinery.
(4) [Reserved]
(5) For foreign refiners the small refiner exemption shall be effective upon approval, by EPA, of a small refiner application. The application must contain all of the elements required for small refiner verification letters (as specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section), must satisfy the provisions of § 80.1465(f) through (h) and (o), must demonstrate compliance with the crude oil capacity criterion of paragraph (a)(1)(iii) of this section, and must be submitted by July 1, 2010 to one of the addresses listed in paragraph (i) of this section.
(c) Small refiner temporary exemption.
(1) Transportation fuel produced by an small refiner pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) of this section, or an approved foreign small refiner (as defined at § 80.1465(a)), is exempt from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010 from the renewable fuel standards of § 80.1405 and the requirements that apply to obligated parties under this subpart if the refiner or foreign refiner meets all the criteria of paragraph (a)(1) of this section.
(2) The small refiner exemption shall apply to a small refiner pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) of this section or an approved foreign small refiner unless that refiner chooses to waive this exemption (as described in paragraph (d) of this section).
(d)
(1) A refiner may, at any time, waive the small refiner exemption under paragraph (c) of this section upon notification to EPA.
(2) A refiner's notice to EPA that it intends to waive the small refiner exemption must be received by November 1 of a given year in order for the waiver to be effective for the following calendar year. The waiver will be effective beginning on January 1 of the following calendar year, at which point the refiner will be subject to the renewable fuel standards of § 80.1405 and the requirements that apply to obligated parties under this subpart.
(3) The waiver must be sent to EPA at one of the addresses listed in paragraph (i) of this section.
(e) Refiners who qualify as small refiners under this section and subsequently fail to meet all of the qualifying criteria as set out in paragraph (a) of this section are disqualified as small refiners of January 1 of the next calendar year, except as provided under paragraphs (d) and (e)(2) of this section.
(1) In the event such disqualification occurs, the refiner shall notify EPA in writing no later than 20 days following the disqualifying event.
(2) Disqualification under this paragraph (e) shall not apply in the case of a merger between two approved small refiners.
(f) If EPA finds that a refiner provided false or inaccurate information in its small refiner status verification letter under this subpart M, the refiner will be disqualified as a small refiner as of the effective date of this subpart.
(g) Any refiner that acquires a refinery from another refiner with approved small refiner status under paragraph (a) of this section shall notify EPA in writing no later than 20 days following the acquisition.
(h) Extensions of the small refiner temporary exemption.
(1) A small refiner may apply for an extension of the temporary exemption of paragraph (c)(1) of this section based on a showing of all the following:
(i) Circumstances exist that impose disproportionate economic hardship on the refiner and significantly affects the refiner's ability to comply with the RFS standards.
(ii) The refiner has made best efforts to comply with the requirements of this subpart.
(2) A refiner must apply, and be approved, for small refiner status under this section.
(3) A small refiner's hardship application must include all the following information:
(i) A plan demonstrating how the refiner will comply with the requirements of § 80.1405 (and all other requirements of this subpart applicable to obligated parties), as expeditiously as possible.
(ii) A detailed description of the refinery configuration and operations including, at a minimum, all the following information:
(A) The refinery's total crude capacity.
(B) Total crude capacity of any other refineries owned by the same entity.
(C) Total volume of gasoline and diesel produced at the refinery.
(D) Detailed descriptions of efforts to comply.
(E) Bond rating of the entity that owns the refinery.
(F) Estimated investment needed to comply with the requirements of this subpart M.
(4) A small refiner shall notify EPA in writing of any changes to its situation between approval of the extension application and the end of its approved extension period.
(5) EPA may impose reasonable conditions on extensions of the temporary exemption, including reducing the length of such an extension, if conditions or situations change between approval of the application and the end of the approved extension period.
(i) Small refiner status verification letters, small refiner exemption waivers, or applications for extensions of the small refiner temporary exemption under this section must be sent to the attention of “RFS Program” to the address in § 80.10(a).
[75 FR 14863, Mar. 26, 2010, as amended at 75 FR 26042, May 10, 2010; 85 FR 7077, Feb. 6, 2020; 85 FR 78467, Dec. 4, 2020]