2015 Wyoming Code
TITLE 39 - TAXATION AND REVENUE
CHAPTER 17 - FUEL TAX
ARTICLE 3 - ALTERNATIVE FUEL TAXES
SECTION 39-17-301. - Definitions.

39-17-301. Definitions.

(a) As used in this article:

(i) "Accountable product" means any product that is subject to the reporting requirements of this state, regardless of its intended use or taxability;

(ii) "Agricultural purposes" means the cultivation of soil, raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural commodity including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, grazing, training and management of livestock, bees, poultry, furbearing animals and wildlife for gain, sale or profit, but excluding a custom operation;

(iii) "Alternative fuels" includes pure methanol, ethanol and other alcohols, blends of eighty-five percent (85%) or more of alcohol with gasoline, natural gas, liquid fuels produced from natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or propane, coal-derived liquid fuels, hydrogen, electricity, pure biodiesel (B100), fuels other than alcohol which are derived from biological materials, renewable diesel and P-Series fuels. The state of Wyoming may designate other fuels as alternative fuels if not previously defined as fuels under this chapter;

(iv) "Billed gallons" means the gallons, gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) or diesel gallon equivalent (DGE) billed to the customer;

(v) "Biodiesel" means a fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids generally derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, designated B100, and meeting the requirements of ASTM D6751 for use in diesel engines;

(vi) "Biodiesel blend" means a blend of biodiesel fuel meeting ASTM D6751 with petroleum based diesel fuel, designated Bxx, where xx represents the volume percentage of biodiesel fuel in the blend. The department shall promulgate rules to designate xx for the purposes of this article;

(vii) "Bulk alternative fuel" means thirty-five (35) gallons or more or the gasoline gallon equivalent, diesel gallon equivalent or gasoline gallon equivalent for electricity delivered at one (1) time, excluding alternative fuels delivered into the attached tanks or auxiliary tanks of a licensed motor vehicle;

(viii) "Bulk plant" means a fuel storage and distribution facility, other than a terminal, from which accountable product may be removed at a rack;

(ix) "Common carrier" means a person, including a railroad operator, who transports accountable product and who does not own the product;

(x) "Commercial vehicle" means as defined in W.S. 31-1-101(a)(i);

(xi) "Compressed natural gas" or "CNG" means natural gas which is compressed and stored in high-pressure containers. It is used as a fuel for natural gas-powered vehicles;

(xii) "Custom operation" means any agricultural purpose done for hire;

(xiii) "Dealer" means any person who sells or offers to sell alternative fuel at a specific location in this state, including any person selling or offering to sell alternative fuel at Wyoming airports;

(xiv) "Department" means the department of transportation;

(xv) "Diesel gallon equivalent" or "DGE" means the diesel gallon equivalent applied to liquefied natural gas in the amount of six and six hundredths (6.06) pounds of liquefied natural gas;

(xvi) "Dispenser" means the point of taxation for compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. The "dispenser" is the point where the gas is delivered into the fuel supply tank of a motor vehicle;

(xvii) "Distributor" means any person, other than a dealer, who receives alternative fuel or blends fuel used to propel a motor vehicle for distribution or resale in this state;

(xviii) "E-85" means an accountable product resulting from an eighty-five percent (85%) ethanol and fifteen percent (15%) blend of gasoline or which otherwise conforms to the standards as provided in W.S. 40-7-102(a)(xxvi);

(xix) "Electric energy" means the amount of work accomplished by electrical power, usually measured in kilowatt hours (kWh);

(xx) "End user" means any person who uses alternative fuel within this state for the generation of power to propel a motor vehicle upon a highway;

(xxi) "Ethanol" means a colorless, odorless liquid produced synthetically by cracking ethane using ethane from natural gas or naphtha from crude oil, by fermentation from crop biomass such as sugar and corn or from waste products such as household waste and paper mill sludge through chemical decomposition and fermentation. "Ethanol" is also known as ethyl-alcohol or alcohol;

(xxii) "Export" means to obtain alternative fuel used to propel a motor vehicle in this state for sale or other distribution in another state. Alternative fuel delivered out of the state of Wyoming by or for the purchaser constitutes an export by the purchaser;

(xxiii) "Exporter" means a person, other than a supplier, who purchases alternative fuel used to propel a motor vehicle in this state for the purpose of transporting or delivering, other than in the fuel supply tank of a motor vehicle, the alternative fuel to another jurisdiction;

(xxiv) "Gallon" means a gallon as measured on a gross basis as defined in this section;

(xxv) "Gasoline gallon equivalent" or "GGE" means the gasoline gallon equivalent applied to nonliquefied compressed natural gas in the amount of five and sixty-six hundredths (5.66) pounds of compressed natural gas. The gasoline gallon equivalent applied to electricity is 33.56 kilowatt hours (kWh);

(xxvi) "Gross gallon" means a measured gallon without temperature or barometric adjustments;

(xxvii) "Highway" means any road, thoroughfare or public way of any kind in Wyoming except United States forest service development roads and any public highway which is required to be maintained entirely at private expense;

(xxviii) "Hybrid electric vehicle" means a vehicle that uses two (2) or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle. "Hybrid electric vehicle" includes a vehicle which includes an internal combustion engine and one (1) or more electric motors but vehicles which use other mechanisms to capture and use energy may also be included;

(xxix) "Hydrogen" means the chemical element which can be used as a fuel;

(xxx) "Import" means to bring alternative fuel for use as a motor vehicle fuel into this state by any means of conveyance other than in the fuel supply tank of a motor vehicle. Alternative fuel delivered into this state from out of state by or for the seller constitutes an import by the seller, and alternative fuel delivered by or for the purchaser constitutes an import for the purchaser;

(xxxi) "Importer" means a person, other than a supplier, who purchases alternative fuel outside of this state for the purpose of transporting or delivering, other than in the fuel supply tank of a motor vehicle, the alternative fuel into this state for sale, use or distribution within this state as a motor vehicle fuel;

(xxxii) "Lessor" means any person who, under the terms of a lease, grants the legal right of possession, control of and responsibility for the operation of a vehicle to another person;

(xxxiii) "Liquefied natural gas" or "LNG" means natural gas, primarily methane, which has been liquefied by reducing its temperature to negative two hundred sixty (-260) degrees Fahrenheit at atmospheric pressure;

(xxxiv) "Liquid petroleum gas" or "LPG" means a gaseous product that has been compressed until it is transformed to a liquid and consists primarily of propane, propylene, butane and butylene in various mixtures. The components of LPG are gases at normal temperature and pressures;

(xxxv) "Methanol" means the clear, colorless liquid which is flammable and used as a fuel or fuel additive;

(xxxvi) "Motor vehicle" means as defined in W.S. 31-1-101(a)(xv);

(xxxvii) "P-series fuel" means liquid blend fuels used either alone or mixed with gasoline in any proportion;

(xxxviii) "Plug-in electric vehicle" means any motor vehicle which can be recharged from any external source of electricity, including a wall socket, and the electricity stored in the rechargeable battery drives or contributes to drive the wheels of the vehicle. "Plug-in electric vehicle" does not include a hybrid vehicle;

(xxxix) "Point of taxation" means the point within the fuel supply chain where the tax is collected;

(xl) "Position holder" means, with respect to alternative fuel in a terminal, the person who holds the inventory position in the alternative fuel as reflected on the records of the terminal operator. A person holds the inventory position when that person has a contractual agreement with the terminal operator for use of the storage facilities or other terminal related services at a terminal with respect to alternative fuel. "Position holder" includes a terminal operator who owns alternative fuel in a terminal;

(xli) "Rack" means a mechanism for delivering alternative fuel from a refinery or terminal into a transport truck, railroad car or other means of transfer which is outside of the terminal transfer system. For compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas the rack is defined as the dispenser;

(xlii) "Refiner" means any person who produces, refines, manufactures, blends or compounds alternative fuel in this state if the alternative fuel is used to propel a motor vehicle;

(xliii) "Renewable diesel", often referred to as "green diesel" or "second generation diesel", refers to petrodiesel-like fuels derived from biological sources that are chemically not esters and thus distinct from biodiesel. Renewable diesel is chemically the same as petrodiesel, but it is made of biomass;

(xliv) "Supplier" means a person who is:

(A) Subject to the general taxing jurisdiction of this state;

(B) Registered pursuant to section 4101 of the federal Internal Revenue Code for transactions in alternative fuels in the bulk transfer/terminal distribution system; and

(C) One (1) of the following:

(I) The position holder in a terminal or refinery in this state;

(II) An importer of alternative fuel into this state from another jurisdiction;

(III) A person who acquires alternative fuel from a terminal or refinery from a position holder pursuant to a two-party exchange; or

(IV) The position holder in a terminal or refinery outside this state with respect to alternative fuel which that person imports into this state on the account of that person.

(D) "Supplier" also includes a person who produces alternative fuel used to propel a motor vehicle in this state, alternative fuel used to propel a motor vehicle for import into this state into a terminal or acquires fuel through import by truck or railcar into a terminal or refinery.

(xlv) "Terminal" means an alternative fuel storage and distribution facility that is supplied by pipeline or vessel, and from which alternative fuel may be removed at a rack;

(xlvi) "Terminal operator" means any person who owns, operates or otherwise controls a terminal;

(xlvii) "Use" or "used" means the consumption of alternative fuel in a motor vehicle upon a highway and includes the reception of alternative fuel into any tank on a motor vehicle which is used by the engine that generates motive power for the vehicle;

(xlviii) "User" means any person who uses alternative fuel within this state in an internal combustion engine for the generation of power to propel a motor vehicle upon a highway;

(xlix) "This article" means W.S. 39-17-301 through 39-17-311.

(b) As used in this chapter, "motor fuels" means gasoline as defined in W.S. 39-17-101(a)(xii), diesel fuel as defined in W.S. 39-17-201(a)(xxi), and alternative fuels as defined in W.S. 39-17-301(a)(iii).