Last week, EPA announced its approval of the state of Kentucky’s petition to remove the Northern Kentucky area of the Cincinnati-Hamilton Ozone Maintenance Area from the federal reformulated gasoline program (RFG). Because the Northern Kentucky area is not a “covered area” in the federal RFG program as of July 1, 2018, fuel retailers, wholesale purchaser-consumers, refiners, importers, and distributors will no longer be required to sell federal RFG starting on July 1.
Back in April 2017, the state of Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet submitted a petition to EPA to opt out of the federal RFG program in the Northern Kentucky Area of the Cincinnati-Hamilton Ozone maintenance area for the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The state also submitted to EPA a revision request to its State Implementation Plan (SIP) in September of 2017, which included a revision to the maintenance plan for the Northern Kentucky area. On April 2, 2018, EPA’s Region 4 issued a final rule that approved Kentucky’s revised SIP that included removal of federal RFG. Subsequently, EPA approved Kentucky’s petition to opt-out of the federal RFG program.
For more information, below are links to EPA resources: