O. Reg. 271/91: GASOLINE VOLATILITY

 

Environmental Protection Act
Loi sur la protection de l’environnement

ONTARIO REGULATION 271/91

GASOLINE VOLATILITY

Consolidation Period: From August 30, 2024 to the e-Laws currency date.

Last amendment: 335/24.

Legislative History: 45/97, 112/20, 533/22, 335/24.

This Regulation is made in English only.

Interpretation

1. (1) In this Regulation,

“bulk plant” means a gasoline distribution facility equipped with one or more storage tanks, but no floating roof storage tank, where gasoline is received and stored in bulk for subsequent shipment;

“late summer” means the 1st day of June to the 15th day of September, inclusive;

“motor gasoline” means gasoline used or intended for use as motor fuel;

“North” means that part of Ontario not within the Southern Ontario corridor;

“Northern summer” means the 1st day of June to the 31st day of August, inclusive;

“Northern volatility limit” means 72 kiloPascals;

“service station” means a facility whose primary function is the retail sale of gasoline or diesel dispensed into the fuel tanks of motor vehicles;

“Southern Ontario corridor” means,

(a)  the part of Ontario that is bounded on the north by a straight line drawn through the city halls of the towns of Grand Bend and Arnprior, and

(b)  where the line described in clause (a) runs across a local municipality, the entire local municipality;

“summer” means the 16th day of May to the 15th day of September, inclusive;

“terminal” means a gasoline distribution facility equipped with one or more floating roof storage tanks where gasoline is received and stored in bulk for subsequent shipment and includes a cargo tank truck loading facility at a petroleum refinery or petroleum processing plant;

“volatility limit” means 62 kiloPascals. O. Reg. 271/91, s. 1; O. Reg. 45/97, s. 1; O. Reg. 533/22, s. 1; O. Reg. 335/24, s. 1.

(2) Revoked: O. Reg. 112/20, s. 1 (2).

Application

1.1 This Regulation does not apply with respect to motor gasoline that is reasonably expected to be transported for use or sale outside of Ontario. O. Reg. 533/22, s. 2.

Summer Gasoline

2. (1) No person who owns or operates a bulk plant, service station or terminal shall cause or permit any motor gasoline to leave the bulk plant, service station or terminal in summer if the motor gasoline has a vapour pressure exceeding the volatility limit. O. Reg. 335/24, s. 2.

(2) With respect to motor gasoline that is transported to the North, subsection (1) applies,

(a)  only in Northern summer; and

(b)  with the Northern volatility limit instead of the volatility limit. O. Reg. 335/24, s. 2.

(3) A person who owns or operates a bulk plant or terminal and causes or permits motor gasoline to leave the bulk plant or terminal in summer shall comply with section 5 (Testing and Reporting). O. Reg. 335/24, s. 2.

(4) This section does not apply in respect of motor gasoline at a bulk plant, service station or terminal unless,

(a)  the motor gasoline is provided to the bulk plant, service station or terminal directly from a refinery; or

(b)  the motor gasoline is imported to the bulk plant, service station or terminal directly from outside of Ontario. O. Reg. 335/24, s. 2.

(5) For greater certainty, this section applies in respect of a bulk plant, service station or terminal whether or not the bulk plant, service station or terminal is located on the same site as a refinery. O. Reg. 335/24, s. 2.

3. Revoked: O. Reg. 335/24, s. 3.

Mixing

4. (1) No person shall, in late summer, cause or permit the mixing of or adding to gasoline or components of gasoline, such that the product is motor gasoline that has a vapour pressure exceeding the volatility limit.

(2) No person who causes or permits the mixing of or adding to gasoline or components of gasoline shall, in late summer, cause or permit any of the motor gasoline product to leave the site where it was mixed or added to if it has a vapour pressure exceeding the volatility limit.  O. Reg. 271/91, s. 4 (1, 2).

(2.1) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), the Northern volatility limit applies instead of the volatility limit,

(a)  to motor gasoline that is transported to the North; and

(b)  in the North, so long as the motor gasoline is not transported to the Southern Ontario corridor.  O. Reg. 45/97, s. 4 (1).

(3) A person who, in late summer, causes or permits the mixing of or adding to gasoline or components of gasoline, such that the product is motor gasoline shall comply with section 5 (Testing and Reporting).  O. Reg. 271/91, s. 4 (3).

(4) Subsection (3) does not apply if the only mixing or adding to is the mixing of two or more motor gasolines and the person causing or permitting the mixing has reason to believe that none of such motor gasolines has a vapour pressure exceeding the volatility limit or the Northern volatility limit, as the case may be.  O. Reg. 271/91, s. 4 (4); O. Reg. 45/97, s. 4 (2).

(5) This section does not apply to a service station. O. Reg. 533/22, s. 3.

Testing and Reporting

5. (1) The person required by section 2 or 4 to comply with this section shall cause the vapour pressure of every batch of motor gasoline described in those sections to be determined and recorded by a laboratory,

(a)  which is accredited for the determination of vapour pressure by a laboratory accreditation program approved by the Director and sponsored by an organization under the auspices of the Standards Council of Canada; and

(b)  which both determines vapour pressure, subject to subsection (1.1), and makes a record of its determinations in a manner consistent with the accreditation program. O. Reg. 271/91, s. 5 (1); O. Reg. 533/22, s. 4 (1); O. Reg. 335/24, s. 4 (1, 2).

(1.1) For the purposes of determining the vapour pressure of motor gasoline under subsection (1), if the determined vapour pressure is not a whole number, the vapour pressure must be rounded to the nearest whole number in accordance with the rounding method set out in ASTM E29, “Standard Practice for Using Significant Digits in Test Data to Determine Conformance with Specifications”, published by ASTM International, as it may be amended from time to time, and the vapour pressure must be recorded using that whole number. O. Reg. 533/22, s. 4 (2).

(2) The person required by section 2 or 4 to comply with this section shall keep each record prepared under subsection (1) for at least five years. O. Reg. 271/91, s. 5 (2); O. Reg. 533/22, s. 4 (3); O. Reg. 335/24, s. 4 (1).

(3) The person required by section 2 or 4 to comply with this section shall, during the same year in which the records are prepared under subsection (1), prepare a summary of the records for the following periods:

1.  The period that begins on the 16th day of May and ends on the 15th day of June.

2.  The period that begins on the 16th day of June and ends on the 15th day of July.

3.  The period that begins on the 16th day of July and ends on the 15th day of August.

4.  The period that begins on the 16th day of August and ends on the 15th day of September. O. Reg. 533/22, s. 4 (4); O. Reg. 335/24, s. 4 (1).

(4) The summary shall contain the information required by the Director and shall be prepared by the 30th day of September in each year in which the records are prepared under subsection (1). O. Reg. 533/22, s. 4 (5).

(4.1) The person required by section 2 or 4 to comply with this section shall,

(a)  keep the summary prepared under this section for a period of five years following the day the summary was required to be prepared; and

(b)  produce the summary that is required to be kept under clause (a) to the Director upon request. O. Reg. 533/22, s. 4 (5); O. Reg. 335/24, s. 4 (1).

(5) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a batch of motor gasoline if,

(a)  the refiner of the motor gasoline has had the vapour pressure of the batch of motor gasoline determined in accordance with a method referred to in section 6 by a laboratory described in subsection (1) of this section;

(b)  the person obtains from the refiner,

(i)  a copy of the record of the vapour pressure determination, and

(ii)  written assurance that the refiner will keep the original record for at least five years and will make it available, upon request, to the person or a provincial officer for inspection; and

(c)  the person complies with subsections (3), (4) and (4.1). O. Reg. 335/24, s. 4 (3).

(6) Clause (5) (c) does not apply if the batch is less than or equal to 25,000 litres. O. Reg. 335/24, s. 4 (3).

Test Methodology

6. For the purposes of clause 5 (5) (a), the vapour pressure of a batch of motor gasoline shall be determined by one or more of the following methods:

1.  ASTM D323, “Standard Test Method for Vapor Pressure of Petroleum Products (Reid Method)”, published by ASTM International, as it may be amended from time to time.

2.  ASTM D4814, “Standard Specification for Automotive Spark-Ignition Engine Fuel”, published by ASTM International, as it may be amended from time to time.

3.  ASTM D4953, “Standard Test Method for Vapor Pressure of Gasoline and Gasoline-Oxygenate Blends (Dry Method)”, published by ASTM International, as it may be amended from time to time.

4.  ASTM D5191, “Standard Test Method for Vapor Pressure of Petroleum Products and Liquid Fuels (Mini Method)”, published by ASTM International, as it may be amended from time to time.

5.  ASTM D5482, “Standard Test Method for Vapor Pressure of Petroleum Products and Liquid Fuels (Mini Method—Atmospheric)”, published by ASTM International, as it may be amended from time to time.

6.  ASTM D6378, “Standard Test Method for Determination of Vapor Pressure (VPX) of Petroleum Products, Hydrocarbons, and Hydrocarbon-Oxygenate Mixtures (Triple Expansion Method)”, published by ASTM International, as it may be amended from time to time.

7.  Another method of determining the vapour pressure of motor gasoline that is acceptable to the Director. O. Reg. 335/24, s. 5.

Transition

7. If section 2, as it read immediately before August 30, 2024 did not apply to a person at that time, that section shall not apply to the person until May 16, 2025. O. Reg. 335/24, s. 6.