When used in this part:

1. (1) “Act” means the Emergency Petroleum Set-Aside Act, Arkansas Code § 15-72-801 et seq.;

2. (2) “Agricultural activities” means commercial farming, dairy, poultry, livestock, horticulture, forestry, and aquaculture activities and services directly related to the planting, cultivation, harvesting, milking, processing and distribution of:

   1. (A) Fiber;
   2. (B) Timber; and
   3. (C) Food intended for human consumption and animal feed;
3. (3) “Assignment” means an action taken by the Arkansas Energy Office, designating that a prime supplier or broker of petroleum products supply them to an authorized consumer, dealer, wholesale purchaser-consumer, or wholesale purchaser-reseller to facilitate relief of emergency or hardship needs pursuant to Arkansas Code § 15-72-804;

4. (4)

   1. (A) “Blended fuels” are mixtures composed primarily of gasoline or diesel fuel that may have additional alternative fuels blended into the petroleum products in varying percentages.
   2. (B) For diesel fuel, B2, B5, B20, or similar conventional/biodiesel blends shall be considered to be diesel fuel.
   3. (C) For gasoline, E10 or similar gasoline/ethanol blends shall be considered to be gasoline;
5. (5) “Broker” means a marketer of petroleum products who performs none of the basic marketing functions but normally brings buyer and seller together and receives a fee or commission for his or her services;
6. (6) “Bulk user” means any firm that is an ultimate consumer which, as a part of its normal business practices, purchases or obtains a product subject to the state set-aside from a supplier and receives delivery of that product into a storage tank substantially under the control of that firm at a fixed location;
7. (7) “Consumer” or “end user” means any individual, trustee, agency, partnership association, corporation, company, municipality, political subdivision, or other legal entity which purchases petroleum products for ultimate consumption in Arkansas;
8. (8) “Dealer” or “retailer” means and includes any person or firm engaged in the business of selling petroleum products at retail;
9. (9) “Director” means the Director of the Arkansas Energy Office who serves under the consent of the Secretary of the Department of Energy and Environment;
10. (10) “Electronic transmission” means any process of communication that does not directly involve the physical transfer of paper and that is suitable for the retention, retrieval, and reproduction of information by the recipient;
11. (11) “Emergency” or “hardship” means any situation which, in the judgment of the Arkansas Energy Office, presents a threat to the economic, social, or personal welfare of the areas, regions, or individual users for which an assignment from the state set-aside is requested;

12. (12) “Emergency services” means vital services, including but not limited to:

    1. (A) Law enforcement;
    2. (B) Firefighting;
    3. (C) Medical care; and
    4. (D) Sanitation, etc.;
13. (13) “Firm” means any association, company, corporation, estate, individual, joint venture, partnership, sole proprietorship, or any entity however organized, including charitable or educational institutions and the federal government, including federal corporations, departments, and agencies, and state and local governments;
14. (14) “Industrial activities” means all industrial activities which create or change materials into another form as well as commercial activities involving the sale of goods and services;
15. (15) “Jobber of petroleum products” means any firm or any part or subsidiary of any firm, other than the United States Department of Defense, which supplies, sells, transfers, or otherwise furnishes any allocated product to wholesale purchasers or end users;

16. (16) “Petroleum products” means:

    1. (A) Propane;
    2. (B) Motor gasoline;
    3. (C) Blended fuels;
    4. (D) Kerosene;
    5. (E) #2 fuel oil;
    6. (F) Diesel fuel;
    7. (G) Kerosene-base jet fuel;
    8. (H) Naphta-base jet fuel; and
    9. (I) Aviation gasoline;
17. (17) “Petroleum wholesaler” means any firm or any part or subsidiary of any firm, other than the United States Department of Defense, which supplies, sells, transfers, or otherwise furnishes any allocated product to wholesale purchasers or end users;

18. (18)

    1. (A) "Prime supplier" means the supplier which makes the first sale of any petroleum product subject to the state set-aside into the state distribution system for consumption within the state.
    2. (B) Notwithstanding the above, "prime supplier" shall not include any firm, or any part or subsidiary of any firm, which supplies, sells, transfers, or otherwise furnishes any allocated product exclusively to utilities for generation of electric energy;
19. (19) "Purchaser" means a wholesale purchaser or consumer, or both;
20. (20) "Reference month" means the calendar month and year to which the reported information on actual sales volume relates;
21. (21) "Set-aside" means, with respect to a particular prime supplier, the amount of petroleum product which is made available from the total supply of a prime supplier, pursuant to the provisions of Arkansas Code § 15-72-804, for utilization by the Arkansas Energy Office to resolve emergencies and hardships due to shortages or other dislocations in petroleum distribution systems;

22. (22)

    1. (A) "Supplier" means any firm or any part or subsidiary of any firm other than the United States Department of Defense, which supplies, sells, transfers, or otherwise furnishes any allocated product to wholesale purchasers or end users, including but not limited to refiners, importers, resellers, brokers, jobbers, and retailers.
    2. (B) Notwithstanding the above, "supplier" shall not include any firm, or any part or subsidiary of any firm, which supplies, sells, transfers, or otherwise furnishes any allocated product exclusively to utilities for generation of electric energy;

23. (23)

    1. (A) "Undue economic burden" means, as used in Arkansas Code § 15-72-804(d)(2)(B), any assignment which, in the judgment of the Arkansas Energy Office, creates an extraordinary and financially prohibitive burden on a prime supplier or broker.
    2. (B) Such judgments by Arkansas Energy Office personnel shall take into account written evidence of such a burden furnished by the prime supplier or broker involved;
24. (24) "Wholesale purchaser" means a wholesale purchaser-reseller or wholesale purchaser-consumer, or both;
25. (25) "Wholesale purchaser-consumer" means any firm that is an ultimate consumer which, as a part of its normal business practices, purchases or obtains a product subject to the state set-aside from a supplier and receives delivery of that product into a storage tank substantially under the control of that firm at a fixed location; and
26. (26) “Wholesale purchaser-reseller" means any firm, including dealers, which purchases, receives through transfers, or otherwise obtains, as by consignment, a product subject to the state set-aside and resells or otherwise transfers it to other purchasers without substantially changing its form.

Codification Notes: This section as promulgated prior to codification into the Code of Arkansas Rules contained a definition of “executive director” that provided as follows: ""Executive Director" means the Executive Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission." Pursuant to Acts 2017, No. 271, and Acts 2019, No. 910, the duties of the Executive Director of the Arkansas Economic Commission as originally set out in this rule are now performed by personnel of the Department of Energy and Environment.