As requested by Mark, I'm reposting this summary of the NBB and EPA
hassle for small producers in the US, first posted in May this
year, previously called NBB and health effects data.
Best
Keith Addison
There's been a lot of discussion here and elsewhere about
small-producer certification, and a lot of confusion too, it seems.
On the one hand there's been quite a lot of talk of conspiracies to
exclude the small guys, which I don't think is warranted, and on the
other the EPA has said different things at different times.
The EPA requires registration of all fuel producers for non-standard
fuels used on-road, which includes biodiesel, and the fuels must be
tested. The NBB put a sample of soy biodiesel through the required
Clean Air Act Tier I and Tier II Health Effects tests, and it passed
(the only alternative fuel so far to do so). The tests also covered
biodiesel made from other feedstocks, such as corn oil, lard, tallow,
WVO, etc., as the differences between them are not significant. The
Tier II tests were federally funded and are thus in the public
domain, anyone can use them. The Tier I tests were funded by the
Soybean Councils and largely paid for with soy check-off dollars. The
non-profit NBB was created by the Soybean Councils, which are still
the major force within the NBB. The check-off money used for the
biodiesel Tier I tests could have been used elsewhere, and the
NBB/Soybean Councils want it back.
To gain access to the data you'd either have to join the NBB and pay
a $5,000 per annum membership fee plus a production tax - or - pay a
$100,000 bond to the NBB for non-member access to the Health Effects
Data (to be returned at face value, without interest, in 2015, if the
NBB has recovered the costs of the tests by then) - or - pay more
than $1 million for your own Tier I health effects tests, which will
take a few years - or - be prepared to face EPA fines of $25,000 per
day, which could be retroactive.
The issue is whether small producers are or are not exempt from
paying for access to the health effects data. There are supposed to
be exemptions for small producers, but it's been said they didn't
apply, and one small producer - Tom Leue's Yellow Biodiesel - was
apparently closed down on this account, or at least stopped from
selling his fuel for on-road use.
The small business exemptions depend on which family/category the
fuel/additive falls into. If the product is considered baseline or
non-baseline, then manufacturers with total annual sales of less than
$50 million are not required to meet Tier I or Tier II. If the
product is considered atypical, then manufacturers with total
annual sales of less than $10 mil are not required to meet Tier II
(Tier I still applies). There are three diesel categories in the
Diesel Family: Baseline Diesel, Non-Baseline Diesel, and Atypical
[diesel].
Baseline Diesel is comprised of diesel fuels and associated additives
which satisfy ALL of the following criteria: shall contain no
elements other than carbon, hydrogen, oxygen (1%), nitrogen and
sulfur (no more than the legal limit for highway diesel). Baseline
Diesel must possess the characteristics of ASTM D 975-93. Baseline
Diesel must be derived from conventional petroleum sources only.
(40CFR79.56(e)3(ii)A)
Non-baseline Diesel must meet all the criteria of baseline diesel
except: oxygen can be 1% or higher (no specified limit) and it can
include diesel fuel and additives which may be derived from synthetic
crudes, such as those prepared from coal, shale, tar sands, heavy oil
deposits, and other non-conventional petroleum sources.
Atypical Diesel comprises diesel and additives which contain one or
more elements other than carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and
sulfur. (40CFR79.56(e)3(ii)C) No mention of source.
According to this, biodiesel (either as a fuel or an additive)
doesn't meet Baseline or Non-Baseline because its made from
non-petroleum sources.
Joe Sopata of the EPA has stated that any blend of 6% biodiesel or
less was considered a non-baseline fuel, and anything over 6% was
considered atypical, and therefore not subject to the Tier 1
exemption. But we could not find these definitions in any EPA
documents.
What we did find in an EPA document is this: An exception is
biodiesel, which is one group, even though it consists of mixed alkyl
esters of plant and/or animal origin.
http://www.epa.gov/icr/icrs/icrpages/1696ss03.htm
This makes biodiesel a non-baseline diesel group, and thus exempt
from Tier I and Tier II testing for producers with total annual sales
of less than $50 million.
For more on this, see Thor Skov's post below.
Joe Sopata has since said, in answer to enquiries, that producers who
sell less than $10,000,000 annually are exempt from Tier I and Tier
II as long as their fuel meets the ASTM standard (ASTM D-6751).
This is what I was told:
Joe Sopata again stated that fuels meeting all ASTM standards for
