Advanced BioFuels USA

by Danielle Romano (Convenience Store News)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing regulatory changes around higher ethanol blends, and they’re drawing mixed reactions.  … “NACS is concerned that the proposed rulemaking would generate more problems than solutions,” said Paige Anderson, NACS’ director of government relations. “We believe that EPA’s proposal would create chaos in the RIN market and reduce retailers’ incentives to blend renewable fuel into the fuel supply.”

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The proposed changes to the market for RINs, which are the credits that EPA uses to ensure that refiners satisfy their obligations under the RFS, would create chaos in the RIN market and reduce incentives for fuel retailers to incorporate renewable fuels into the fuel supply, according to NATSO, the national association representing truck stops and travel plazas.

EPA admits that it has not seen any “data-based evidence” of RIN market manipulation that would necessitate these reforms, NATSO noted. 

“EPA’s proposal would remove many existing incentives to sell biofuels and would act as a penalty for fuel marketers that want to blend those fuels,” said NATSO Vice President of Government Affairs David Fialkov. “The ‘reforms’ that EPA is exploring were conceived by the same refining companies that for years have been trying to undercut the RFS in order to avoid investing in renewable fuels. The changes are not designed to ‘enhance RIN transparency’ but rather to depress demand for biofuels so that a small subset of refiners can spend as little as possible to meet their obligations.”

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With just 80 days to go until the start of the 2019 summer driving season, the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) will urge stakeholders to provide public comments to EPA, so a legally defensible rule can be in place by June 1, according to CEO Brian Jennings.

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“E15 has lower evaporative emissions than E10 and straight gasoline and has been approved by EPA for use in 2001 and newer vehicles; 90 percent of the cars on the road today. Access to E15 all year will increase the fuel’s availability, reduce refiner RIN costs and open much-needed market access for surplus corn,” he added.

As pleased as ACE is with the EPA’s proposals, Jennings expressed that the upside potential of E15 year-round will be blunted unless and until EPA “returns sanity to the way it handles Small Refinery Exemptions under the RFS.”

“EPA needs to restore the 2.25 billion gallons of biofuel blending obligations waived for large, profitable refineries,” he said.

Before finalizing the rule, the EPA will accept public comments until April 29. READ MORE

Year-round E15 proposal ‘vital’ to producers (Wisconsin State Farmer)

EPA proposes year-round sales of E15 gasoline, RIN program changes (Oil & Gas Journal)

Changes to US biofuel credit system to spark another ethanol, oil clash (ICIS News)

Could Trump’s Ethanol Move Cost Him Florida Next Year? (Hot Air)

Thalmann voices local ag concerns in D.C (Hutchinson Leader)

E15 and waiver fight continues between ethanol and petroleum industries (AgWeek)

Trump Administration Trying to Please Everyone on Renewable Fuel Standard (Competitive Enterprise Institute)

Excerpts from Oil & Gas Journal:  American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers Pres. Chet Thompson was more succinct. “We oppose the EPA’s clear overreach of authority on this matter and doubt it will have the market effect the ethanol industry thinks it will,” he told OGJ in a Mar. 12 email. “If the EPA finalizes this rule, it will certainly be challenged in court.”

“Today’s proposed rule means EPA is one step closer to making good on President Trump’s promise to allow year-round sales of E15. With just 80 days left before the start of the summer driving season, finalizing and implementing the E15 regulatory fix remains a tall order,” said Renewable Fuels Association Pres. Geoff Cooper.

“That is why we have urged EPA to separate the year-round E15 provisions from the RIN reform provisions, and move forward as quickly as possible to finalize a practical and defensible year-round E15 solution,” he indicated.

The Fueling American Jobs Coalition (which was formed by union workers, small retailers, and independent refiners to find solutions to RFS problems) said EPA successfully struck a balance between the need to maintain jobs and investment in the vital refining sector and the desire of some in the biofuels sector to expand the use of higher blends of ethanol.

“It is incumbent now for the administration to finalize a rule with the right market reforms that limit speculation and manipulation without creating any unintended consequences for RFS obligated parties,” it said in a Mar. 12 statement. “The coalition looks forward to working with EPA on technical analysis, comments, and other participation in the rule-making process as the agency moves toward finalizing the rule.”  READ MORE