RFA Supports EPA’s Proposed 2022 RFS Volumes, Urges Agency to Abandon Retroactive Cut to 2020 Volume

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February 07, 2022

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(Renewable Fuels Association) In comments submitted today (February 4, 2022) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Renewable Fuels Association expressed strong support for the agency’s proposed 2022 renewable volume obligations (RVO) while opposing the proposed retroactive reduction of the previously finalized 2020 RVO requirements.

In early December, EPA published its proposal to set the 2022 RFS implied conventional renewable fuel requirement at the statutory volume of 15 billion gallons. Unfortunately, the EPA proposal also sought to cut the 2021 conventional renewable fuel requirement to just 13.32 billion gallons and retroactively reduce the 2020 requirement—finalized in December 2019—by as much as 1.22 billion gallons.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper wrote that the organization is “strongly supportive of the proposed volumes for 2022 for all categories of renewable fuel,” but noted that ethanol producers are “very troubled by EPA’s questionable proposed use of its ‘reset’ authority to reopen the 2020 RVO.” According to Cooper, retroactively revising the 2020 RVO “…would set a dangerous precedent and contradict the agency’s long-held position that it does not have the authority to retroactively adjust RFS standards once finalized.”

RFA’s comments also express support for EPA’s proposal to restore 500 million gallons of illegally waived RFS requirements from the 2016 RVO, as ordered by the D.C. Circuit Court in the Americans for Clean Energy v. EPA case, calling EPA’s plan “reasonable and fair.”

In a related step, EPA simultaneously in December proposed to deny 65 pending petitions for small refinery exemptions from RFS requirements and to make changes to ensure the SRE complies with the 10th Circuit Court’s 2020 decision in the RFA v. EPA case. Separate comments on the SRE denial proposal are due on Monday, Feb. 7.

In summarizing RFA’s recommendations for EPA’s final rule, Cooper urged the agency to:

Expeditiously finalize the proposed 2022 volumes and proposed approach to restoring the 500-million-gallon remand;
Eliminate the proposed revision to the 2020 RVO and require obligated parties to comply with the 2020 standards finalized in 2019;
Revise 2021 volumes to reflect a more accurate accounting of actual renewable fuel use; and
Make official the denial of all pending SRE petitions and ensure future petitions are held to the same standards set forth in the unappealed holdings of the 10th Circuit Court decision in RFA v. EPA. READ MORE

Biofuel groups file comments urging EPA to set strong RFS RVOs (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Industry Groups Urge EPA To Expand SAF Feedstocks (Aviation International News Online)

Aviation industry coalition calls on EPA to expand sustainable aviation fuel feedstocks in updated RFS (Green Car Congress)

Coalition Calls on EPA to Expand Sustainable Aviation Fuel Feedstocks In Updated RFS (National Business Aviation Association)

Explainer: Clashing concerns over biofuel blending (KEVN; includes VIDEO)

Lawmakers ask EPA to protect, strengthen the RFS (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

RFA Thanks House Members for RFS Support (Renewable Fuels Association)

Calls to expand SAF feedstock in the US (Biofuels International)

Clean Fuels comments on deadline for 2021, 2022 RFS rules (Biodiesel Magazine)

Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: A variety of groups, including those representing the ethanol industry, renewable natural gas (RNG) industry, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producers were among those who filed public comments regarding the agency’s proposed rule to revise the existing 2020 RVO and set the long-overdue RVOs for 2021 and 2022.

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The American Coalition for Ethanol also warned of the danger posed by EPA’s plan to retroactively reduce the 2020 RVO and called on the EPA to increase the proposed 2021 RVO and finalize the 2022 RVO as proposed.

Without corrections for the 2020 and 2021 compliance years, EPA may merely maintain a 2022 statutory volume of 15 billion gallons on paper, Brian Jennings, CEO of ACE. He wrote that if the proposed cuts for 2020 and 2021 are finalized it “…will mean refiners will have amassed a stockpile of carryover RINs with which to meet a 15-billion-gallon implied conventional biofuel volume for 2022 as opposed to blending physical gallons of E15 and higher ethanol blends.”

Jennings also encouraged the EPA to proactively consider regulatory relief to ensure year-round market access for E15 and urged the agency to replace its badly outdated internal biofuel greenhouse gas (GHG) modeling tool with the latest version of the U.S. Department of Energy’s GREET model.

In addition, Jennings informed EPA of the first-of-its-kind Regional Conservation Partnership Program ACE and several partners were awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year to help establish a protocol for ethanol producers and farmers to document the low carbon benefits of certain farming practices and offered praise to USDA Secretary Vilsack for his visionary efforts to establish a new Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Initiative to scale the deployment of climate-smart farming practices and demonstrate their link to reducing GHG emissions from products such as ethanol.

The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) expressed support for the cellulosic targets included in the proposed 2021 and 2022 RVOs but called on the EPA to enforce the existing 2020 RVOs immediately.

"EPA’s continued support for the expanded production and use of RNG is much appreciated,” wrote Johannes Escudero, founder and CEO of the RNG Coalition. “The proposed RFS volume requirements providing for a 51 percent increase in the program’s cellulosic biofuel target between 2020 and 2022 is welcomed, and we urge issuing these standards as soon as possible. We also ask that the current 2020 standards be enforced immediately."

“The RFS has been a key policy driver and remains critical to the growth of renewable natural gas, including to help decarbonize our medium- and heavy duty transport sector. We are ready to provide increasing volumes of domestic, cellulosic biofuels for years to come,” Escudero added.

Business aviation groups have also weighed in on the EPA’s proposal, calling on the agency to support the development of SAF through the RFS. General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Helicopter Association International, National Air Transportation Association, and National Business Aviation Association, filed comments on behalf of the Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainable Aviation Fuel, urging the EPA to provide greater opportunities for the development of SAF as it updates the RFS.

The coalition said that with the right changes, the RFS can go a long way to helping the U.S. meet the Biden administration’s “SAF Grand Challenge” goal of bringing 3 billion gallons of SAF to the market per year by 2030.

The SAF coalition is asking the EPA to expand the list of eligible feedstocks, approve new process technologies and biointermediate opportunities and ensure that RVOs for advanced biofuels are set at levels that will allow grater supplies of those fuels. Specifically, the comments urge the EPA to ensure municipal solid waste (MSW) and woody biomass are included in the definition of biointermediates.

“We hope EPA and this administration recognize the opportunity for SAF moving forward as part of the RFS program,” the SAF coalition wrote. “The growth in SAF will not happen if EPA does not responsibly improve the regulatory structure of the RFS — by finalizing biointermediates, by updating the opportunities for both feedstocks and technologies, and by increasing the RVO volumes accordingly.” READ MORE

Excerpt from Biofuels International: The Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainable Aviation Fuel has urged the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide greater opportunities for the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The coalition consisting of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), Helicopter Association International (HAI), National Air Transportation Association (NATA), and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), made the recommendation as the EPA updates the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

The coalition said that with the right changes, the RFS can go a long way to helping the US meet the Biden administration’s “SAF Grand Challenge” goal of bringing 3 billion gallons of SAF to the market per year by 2030.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan in response to a request for comments on a proposed RFS rule, the Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainable Aviation Fuel called on the agency to expand the list of eligible feedstocks, which would make new sources available for biofuels and SAF. READ MORE

Excerpt from Biodiesel Magazine: On March 25, Clean Fuels Alliance America filed comments supporting the proposed consent decree in Growth Energy v. Regan (D.D.C. No. 1:22-cv-00347) that would establish a June 3, 2022, deadline for EPA to finalize the 2021 and 2022 Renewable Fuel Standards. Clean Fuels emphasized in its comments that U.S. producers need certainty and depend on the market signals from the RFS to continue investing in increasing production.

“Our growing contribution to U.S. fuel supplies over the past half-decade reduced diesel prices by an average 3.23 percent each year,” Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs for Clean Fuels writes in the comments. “Reducing the availability of biodiesel and renewable diesel right now would impose higher costs on American consumers – both in the price of fuel and other goods today and in terms of health tomorrow.”

Kovarik adds, “Right now, America is facing a shortage of diesel fuel, high prices at the pump, and high transportation costs that are adding to supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures. The Renewable Fuel Standard is crucial to sustainably meeting America’s growing demand for better, cleaner fuels. We stand ready to work with EPA to get this program back on track.”

Download Clean Fuels’ comments.

The U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel industry supports 65,000 U.S. jobs and more than $17 billion in economic activity each year. Every 100 million gallons of production supports 3,200 jobs and $780 million in economic opportunity. Biodiesel production supports approximately 13 percent of the value of each U.S. bushel of soybeans. READ MORE