Boutique Fuels Take Center Stage.  As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moves into the drafting stage for their report to the President on boutique fuels, the discussion has moved across town to Capitol Hill.  House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) convened a legislative hearing on June 7^th to discuss a draft bill, the “Boutique Fuel Reduction Act of 2006”, aimed at restricting the number of boutique fuels used nationally.  The legislation would reduce the number of fuel options available to states’ clean air fuel programs from seven, as capped in the 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPAct), to three with limited opportunity for adding a fourth.  Respondents to the bill were generally cautious if not fully opposed to any new legislative efforts to reduce the number of boutique fuels, indicating that the need for such action was either unclear or premature.  Much of the focus centered on EPAct implementation and the anticipated report of the EPA Task Force.  Undeterred, Chairman Barton indicated to reporters, "This discussion draft is close to being a reportable bill," and the legislation is expected to be marked up prior to the last week of June in anticipation of floor consideration during the House’s “Energy Week”.

. . . Meanwhile, back at EPA.  EPA Staff have begun the process of drafting the report for the Governor's Boutique Fuels Task Force.  Maintaining the ambitious schedule set by the Administrator, the task force is on schedule for delivering its report to the President by the end of June.  The initial draft of the report has been distributed to Governors for their review and it is likely to be distributed to a broader group of stakeholders this week.  NCSL had a successful meeting with staff from the Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) concerning the report and ensuring that the perspective of State legislators’ was heard despite their exclusion from the Task Force.  The report is expected to recommend that the definition of boutique fuels remain limited to the seven fuels currently used by 12 states in their clean air fuel programs.  The report is also expected to indicate that any review or action on a wider array of fuel blend and distribution issues will require more time and consultation with a more diverse and complete group of stakeholders.

. . . And In other news at EPA.  Moving forward with implementation of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, EPA issued a Federal Register notice listing fuels, referred to as "boutique fuels," that are approved for use in SIPs as of September 1, 2004.  This list advances implementation of the fuel cap provision which has often been referenced during recent action to further reduce the number of boutique fuels.  Information is also included on the states and Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADDS) where the fuels are used.  The EPA list will remain open for comment for 60 days after publication of the notice in the Federal Register.

For more information visit the EPA boutique fuels page at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/boutique.htm.

GAO ISSUES REVOLVING LOAN FUND REPORT – Since its inception in 1987, states have used 96 percent of their Clean Water State Revolving Loan funds for wastewater treatment plants.  The remainder has been directed to less costly non-point source pollution control programs that the report notes comprise nearly one quarter of all projects authorized under the SRF.  These findings are part of recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled Clean Water:  How States Allocate Revolving Loan Funds and Measure Their Benefits.  The popular SRF program remains a constant funding reduction target for the administration and House majority party appropriators.  The GAO report concludes that “…(States and localities) will need hundreds of billions of dollars in coming years to construct and upgrade wastewater treatment facilities, sewer systems, and other water infrastructure…” and it becomes one more source pointing to the need for a revitalized federal commitment to the SRF program.  You can access the report at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-579.

NEPA EXEMPTIONS – On May 31, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) task force draft document aiming to assist federal agencies in modernizing their process of  determining what projects are exempt from NEPA review requirements.  These projects are titled “categorical exclusions,” which are classified as not significantly effecting the human environment.  The document outlines the procedures that agencies should follow when “establishing or revising

categorical exclusion, notifying and involving the public when establishing or revising categorical exclusions; documenting development, revision, and application of categorical exclusions; and periodically reviewing categorical exclusions.” The document also recommends soliciting other federal agencies, stakeholders, and the public for input.  The final document is scheduled to be published in August, once CEQ receives comments from the task force’s round table forum of federal agencies and stakeholders. 

HOW TO FOR UST PUBLIC RECORDS – Continuing the series of guidelines for  Energy Policy Act 2005 (EPACT) release prevention regulations on state underground storage tank (UST) programs funded by federal grants, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published on June 9 draft guidelines for UST public record requirements.  The UST public record grant guidelines tackle the quality of data, compliance with guidelines, creation of the public record and ensuring it is kept current, the availability of the public record to the public, and efficiency of record content. Comments are due by July 8.

This announcement of guidelines joins provisions released on May 25 dealing with financial responsibility, fuel delivery prohibition, installer certification, and secondary containment as well as a June 1 publication of the Native American tribes draft strategy.  Comments are due June 24 for the guidelines released on May 25.  More guidelines are expected to be published throughout the summer.