A group that advocates for organizations engaged in biobased chemistries wants the government to give biodiesel the same environmental reporting exemptions that petroleum enjoys. The Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG) petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking that biodiesel fuel manufacturers be granted the same Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) exemptions that petroleum-based diesel manufacturers already receive.
Specifically, BRAG petitioned EPA to add “biodiesel” as a chemical category for partial exemption for the same reasons as those given for petroleum chemicals already included, which occurred via a rulemaking process based on proposals submitted by the American Petroleum Institute (API). BRAG contends that biodiesel products should be treated similarly to the petroleum products included in the (b)(1) List due to the conditions of manufacture and the properties and uses of the substances.
The second petition, “Petition for Partial Exemption of Biodiesel Products,” was submitted to the CDR Coordinator of EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP). In it, BRAG petitions to add “biodiesel” as a chemical category in the partially exempted chemical list at 40 C.F.R. Section 711.6(b)(2)(iv), referred to as the (b)(2) List. EPA has stated that CDR processing and use information for chemicals on the (b)(2) List is of “low current interest” and has established a petition process to enable stakeholders to add chemicals to the (b)(2) list.
BRAG believes biodiesel belongs on the (b)(1) List but because there is no formal petition process to amend the (b)(1) List, it decided to proceed with the “low current interest” petition process to amend the (b)(2) List as well.
BRAG officials say they just want to level the playing field for biodiesel and petroleum-derived diesel manufacturers, since biodiesel producers are required to spend significant amounts of time and money gathering and providing CDR information to EPA while petroleum-derived producers are not, for chemicals that are very similar, serve the same purpose, and are managed in equivalent ways.