The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Wednesday amended and reported out Senate Bill 1037 (Vogel-R-Beaver) whose intent is to repeal the requirement for summer low-RVP gasoline in seven Western Pennsylvania counties required from May 1 to September 15.
The counties include Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland.
The Committee approved an amendment to require the Department of Environmental Protection to start the process for amending the State Air Quality Implementation Plan within 60 days of the effective date of the act. Once the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approves the amended SIP, the bill directs the Environmental Quality Board to adopt a regulation eliminating the low-RVP gasoline requirement in Western Pennsylvania.
A 2012 DEP review of the low-RVP gasoline requirement in response to Act 135 found low-RVP gasoline contributed a volatile organic compound emission reduction of 1.61 tons per day in the Pittsburgh Region.
It is those emissions DEP will have to make up by imposing or adjusting volatile organic compound emission limits in other sectors since the Pittsburgh Region is in nonattainment of the Ozone Pollution Standard.
The Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) reports the cost difference between low-RVP summer gasoline in the Pittsburgh area from May to September 2013 was an average of 13.53 cents a gallon higher than 9.0-RVP gasoline in the same region with a difference as high as 18.87 cents last August.
The bill was reported out of Committee with two opposing votes and now goes to the full House for consideration.
Rep. Ron Miller (R-York) serves as Majority Chair and Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Minority Chair.