Renewable Fuel Standard Program: Standards for 2020 and Biomass-Based Diesel Volume for 2021 and Other Changes

(Environmental Protection Agency/Federal Register) Under section 211 of the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set renewable fuel percentage standards every year. This action establishes the annual percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that apply to gasoline and diesel transportation fuel produced or imported in the year 2020. Relying on statutory waiver authority that is available when the projected cellulosic biofuel production volume is less than the applicable volume specified in the statute, EPA is establishing volume requirements for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that are below the statutory volume targets. We are also establishing the applicable volume of biomass-based diesel for 2021. In addition, we are finalizing changes to the percentage standard calculations to account for volumes of gasoline and diesel we project will be exempted from the renewable volume obligations. Finally, this action finalizes several regulatory changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program including new pathways, flexibilities for regulated parties, and clarifications of existing regulations.

I. Executive Summary

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program began in 2006 pursuant to the requirements in Clean Air Act (CAA) section 211(o) that were added through the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). The statutory requirements for the RFS program were subsequently modified through the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), leading to the publication of major revisions to the regulatory requirements on March 26, 2010.^[1]EISA's stated goals include moving the United States (U.S.) toward “greater energy independence and security [and] increas[ing] the production of clean renewable fuels.” ^[2]

The statute includes annual volume targets and requires EPA to translate those volume targets (or alternative volume requirements established by EPA in accordance with statutory waiver authorities) into compliance obligations that obligated parties must meet every year. In this action we are establishing the applicable volumes for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel for 2020, and biomass-based diesel (BBD) for 2021.^[3]

We are also finalizing changes to the percentage standard calculations to account for volumes of gasoline and diesel we project will be exempted from the renewable volume obligations, and establishing the annual percentage standards (also known as “percent standards”) for cellulosic biofuel, BBD, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that would apply to gasoline and diesel produced or imported in 2020.^[4]

Finally, we are finalizing several regulatory changes to the RFS program to facilitate the implementation of this program going forward including new pathways, flexibilities for regulated parties, and clarifications of existing regulations.

Today, nearly all gasoline used for transportation purposes contains 10 percent ethanol (E10), and on average diesel fuel contains nearly 5 percent of biodiesel and renewable diesel.^[5]However, the market has fallen well short of the statutory volumes for cellulosic biofuel, resulting in shortfalls in the advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel volumes. In this action, we are establishing a volume requirement for cellulosic biofuel at the level we project to be available for 2020, along with an associated applicable percentage standard. For advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel, we are finalizing volume requirements using the “cellulosic waiver authority” that result in advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel volume requirements that are lower than the statutory targets by the same magnitude as the reduction in the cellulosic biofuel reduction. This would effectively maintain the implied statutory volumes for non-cellulosic biofuel and conventional biofuel.^[6]

The resulting volume requirements for 2020 are shown in Table I-1. Relative to the levels finalized for 2019, the 2020 volume requirements for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel would be higher by approximately 170 million gallons. This entire increase for each category is attributable to the increased projection of cellulosic biofuel production in 2020 (see Section III for a further discussion of our cellulosic biofuel projection). We are also establishing the volume requirement for BBD for 2021 at 2.43 billion gallons. This volume is equal to the BBD volume finalized for 2020.

Table I-1—Final Volume Requirements ^a
	2019 ^b	2020 Statutory volumes	2020 Proposed volumes	2020 Final volumes	2021 Final volumes
Cellulosic biofuel (billion gallons)	0.42	10.50	0.54	0.59	n/a
Biomass-based diesel (billion gallons)	2.1	≥1.0	^c N/A	^c 2.43	2.43
Advanced biofuel (billion gallons)	4.92	15.00	5.04	5.09	n/a
Renewable fuel (billion gallons)	19.92	30.00	20.04	20.09	n/a
^a All values are ethanol-equivalent on an energy content basis, except for BBD which is biodiesel-equivalent.
^b The 2019 volume requirements for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and renewable fuel were established in the 2019 final rule (83 FR 63704, December 11, 2018). The 2019 BBD volume requirement was established in the 2018 final rule (82 FR 58486, December 12, 2017).
^c The 2020 BBD volume requirement of 2.43 billion gallons was established in the 2019 final rule (83 FR 63704, December 11, 2018).

Table I-1—Final Volume Requirements ^a

2019 ^b

2020 Statutory volumes

2020 Proposed volumes

2020 Final volumes

2021 Final volumes

Cellulosic biofuel (billion gallons)

0.42

10.50

0.54

0.59

n/a

Biomass-based diesel (billion gallons)

2.1

≥1.0

^c N/A

^c 2.43

2.43

Advanced biofuel (billion gallons)

4.92

15.00

5.04

5.09

n/a

Renewable fuel (billion gallons)

19.92

30.00

20.04

20.09

n/a

^a All values are ethanol-equivalent on an energy content basis, except for BBD which is biodiesel-equivalent.

^b The 2019 volume requirements for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and renewable fuel were established in the 2019 final rule (83 FR 63704, December 11, 2018). The 2019 BBD volume requirement was established in the 2018 final rule (82 FR 58486, December 12, 2017).

^c The 2020 BBD volume requirement of 2.43 billion gallons was established in the 2019 final rule (83 FR 63704, December 11, 2018).

A. Approach To Setting Volume Requirements

For advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel, we are reducing the statutory volumes based on the “cellulosic waiver authority” that result in advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel volume requirements that are lower than the statutory targets by the same magnitude as the reduction in the cellulosic biofuel applicable volume. Further discussion of our cellulosic waiver authority is found in Section II. This follows the same general approach as in the 2018 and 2019 final rules, as well as the 2020 proposed rule. The volumes for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel exceed the required volumes for these fuel types in 2019. READ MORE