On this page:

• Rule Summary
• Additional Resources

Rule Summary

On April 18, 2017, 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 maintenance area for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. Kentucky also submitted a SIP revision request to EPA on September 13, 2017 that included a revision to the maintenance plan for the area and a noninterference demonstration regarding the removal of federal RFG in the Northern Kentucky Area. EPA’s Region 4 issued a final rule that approved Kentucky’s revised maintenance that removed federal RFG on April 2, 2018 (63 FR 13872). Region 4’s final rule that approved the revised maintenance plan became effective upon publication, April 2, 2018.

Subsequently EPA approved Kentucky’s petition to opt-out of the federal RFG program in the Northern Kentucky Area.  The Northern Kentucky Area is not a “covered area” in the federal RFG program as of July 1, 2018. As of July 1, 2018, there is no longer a requirement to sell federal RFG in the Northern Kentucky Area. This effective date applies to retailers, wholesale purchaser-consumers, refiners, importers, and distributors.​

After EPA published the Federal Register notice approving Kentucky’s petition on May 16, 2018 (designating the Northern Kentucky Area as no longer a covered area), EPA also published a ministerial Federal Register notice on February 7, 2019, that amended the regulations at 40 CFR 80.70 to reflect the removal of the Northern Kentucky Area from the list of covered areas.

Additional Resources

• Fact Sheet: EPA Approves Request from Kentucky for the Removal of the Federal Reformulated Gasoline Program in the Northern Kentucky Area (PDF) (3 pp, 58 K, EPA-420-F-18-009, May 2018)
• Letter from EPA’s Administrator Pruitt to Kentucky
• Federal Register Notice Approving Kentucky’s Petition (PDF) (3 pp, 198 K, published May 16, 2018)
• Federal Register Notice Removing the Northern Kentucky Area from List of Covered Areas (PDF) (4 pp, 274 K , published February 7, 2019)
• Region 4’s Final Rule (PDF) (2 pp, 234 K, published April 2, 2018)