WASHINGTON, May 7, 2013 – EPA should follow standard Clean Air Act procedures in proposing its new and potentially massively costly Tier 3 sulfur standards, API Senior Downstream Policy Advisor Patrick Kelly told reporters this afternoon. He said the rule could significantly impact gasoline costs and would come at a time when a wave of other regulations affecting refineries also could be imposed. He also said the proposal could damage U.S. energy security: 

    “Respecting the statutory rulemaking process in this case is particularly important because the proposal is hard to justify and potentially very harmful. The massive refinery investments it would require could drive up the cost of making gasoline and weaken the nation’s energy security without producing much, if any, environmental benefit. Most sulfur in gasoline has already been removed. There’s 90 percent less in gasoline today than a decade ago, and the current Tier 2 standards are still generating environmental benefits as the U.S. vehicle fleet turns over. 

    “Unfortunately, Tier 3 is not the only rule EPA has in mind for our nation’s refineries. EPA also is considering gasoline vapor pressure reductions, which could increase gasoline costs an additional 16 cents per gallon beyond the Tier 3 costs, and increasingly burdensome RFS requirements, which, according to NERA Economic Consulting, could increase gasoline costs by 30 percent and result in rationing and other serious disruptions in the transportation sector and severe economic damage. On top of that, other regulations affecting refineries – rules whose costs have not yet been fully analyzed – could add substantially to this burden. They include greenhouse gas rules, new source performance standards, and more stringent ozone standards. As the studies show, this is a recipe for disaster for American consumers.” 

    API submitted comments on the Tier 3 rule to EPA today as well.

API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $85 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.