Thanks for the chance to offer touch upon EPA’s proposal to partially waive the 2024 cellulosic biofuel quantity requirement beneath the Renewable Gas Customary (RFS). Development Power is the nation’s largest affiliation of biofuel producers, representing 97 U.S. bioethanol vegetation that every 12 months produce greater than 9.5 billion gallons of renewable gasoline, and 123 companies all through the worth chain.
The RFS continues to be one in all our nation’s most profitable home local weather and power insurance policies. As now we have seen lately, biofuels stay the only finest software accessible to protect motorists from risky international oil costs and quickly decarbonize the transportation sector. EPA has typically applied RFS laws to advance these objectives. In 2023, for instance, EPA finalized the RFS Set rule for 2023, 2024, and 2025 with implied typical biofuel volumes at 15 billion gallons, superior volumes that, on the time, mirrored progress and innovation within the business, and with formidable targets for cellulosic biofuel volumes. EPA has additionally taken actions to finish the abuse of small refinery exemptions and restore integrity to this system. Most related right here, EPA additionally appropriately denied a request from oil firms to retroactively waive 2023 cellulosic quantity necessities.
EPA’s proposal to partially waive 2024 cellulosic quantity necessities is inconsistent with EPA’s denial of the request to partially waive 2023 cellulosic volumes, its latest RFS insurance policies, and with the RFS itself. Whereas 2024 cellulosic volumes could not have achieved RVO targets, many biorefiners have however been making headway in cellulosic biofuel manufacturing, and extra cellulosic registrations are being accepted by the company.
As well as, the cellulosic waiver provision is expressly written to permit discount solely upfront of setting the requirements, not afterwards, and thus it’s not accessible to EPA beneath this proposed rule. The RFS statute states that the cellulosic waiver should be utilized by “not later than November 30 of the previous calendar 12 months,” not, as proposed right here, within the following 12 months (emphasis added).
No matter any claimed authority EPA workouts to partially scale back the 2024 cellulosic quantity necessities, EPA should take the quantities and availability of all cellulosic carry ahead and carryover RINs into consideration when calculating any reductions, and it shouldn’t scale back the necessities under these quantities. As well as, if figuring out whether or not to scale back cellulosic volumes pursuant to its basic waiver authority, EPA ought to proceed to require a “excessive diploma of confidence” that RFS compliance causes extreme hurt to the financial system as a complete, and never merely to a particular sector. And in accordance with its established coverage, EPA shouldn’t “credit score RIN prices as financial hurt to obligated events” when figuring out whether or not to concern a waiver of the 2024 cellulosic quantity necessities.
Any waiver of 2024 cellulosic quantity necessities shouldn’t present precedent for the way forward for the RFS program or suppress RFS program objectives, that are to drive manufacturing and innovation of biofuels, together with cellulosic biofuels, and to not passively observe a biofuels market with out them. Moreover, delaying the compliance deadline injects pointless uncertainty into the method for bioethanol producers and the whole gasoline provide chain.
EPA faces different urgent issues associated to the RFS program. EPA is already late on its subsequent iteration of volumes beneath the RFS “Set” rule, specifically 2026 volumes, which EPA was required to have already set by November 1 of final 12 months. Moreover, a number of different excellent RFS points await decision, together with updating lifecycle emissions modeling, clearing the backlog of approvals for renewable gasoline pathways, together with these for superior biofuels produced from corn oil at bioethanol moist mills, bioethanol produced utilizing carbon seize applied sciences, in addition to pending registrations for cellulosic biofuels from kernel fiber.
Lastly, whereas circuitously associated to the RFS and this proposal, EPA should proceed its work to broaden the sale of E15, together with finalizing its proposal on using present retail infrastructure and simplification of E15 labeling.6
Slightly than retroactively decreasing cellulosic volumes, EPA ought to as an alternative suggest rulemakings that may faucet the complete potential of the RFS. America’s biofuel producers and our farm companions are prepared to steer the cost on local weather and power options, and a agency dedication to progress will supply regulatory certainty and predictability within the years forward. Thanks in your consideration.
