The 2014 RFS Rule Left Out in the Cold

by Brent Erickson (Biofuels Digest/Biotechnology Industry Organization) ...EPA should formally withdraw the proposed rule and issue a final rule as soon as possible, fully correcting their misinterpretation of waiver authority and methodology for setting the annual renewable fuel volumes. Setting renewable volume obligations according to the biofuel industry’s ability to produce is not only what Congress intended, but also the only way to encourage companies to make new investments in the growth of advanced and cellulosic biofuels in the United States.
The RFS was designed to increase advanced biofuel production and use – not to preserve the status quo of oil’s domination of the transportation fuel supply. If the volumes are based on gasoline consumption rather than biofuel production, it will fundamentally undermine the RFS’s policy support for advanced biofuel commercialization and put the program on a flat trajectory that only benefits oil refiners.
By limiting renewable fuels to 10 percent of gasoline consumption as it proposed a year ago, EPA will force advanced biofuels to compete for market space with conventional biofuels. It seems the refining industry has cried wolf so many times that EPA and OMB may have become confused and lost sight of the intent of the underlying statute.
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This year, EPA approved a new cellulosic biofuel pathway for producing compressed or liquefied natural gas. It took an entire year for the rule to be approved, but it immediately opened a floodgate of new cellulosic biofuels. From August to October this year, nearly 17.7 million gallons of cellulosic fuel have been produced under this new pathway.
And yet, more than 30 new advanced and cellulosic pathway petitions are awaiting action from EPA. On average, companies filing these petitions have already waited nearly two full years for EPA to take action – and the agency hasn’t even begun the rulemaking process for these petitions. EPA’s delays are becoming one of the biggest barriers to advanced biofuel commercialization.
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Cutting back on use of biofuels this year has meant that the United States is increasing its use of petroleum in the transportation sector, which automatically generates additional carbon emissions – as much as 21 million metric tons this year. It’s the same as putting 4.4 million more cars on the road in one year or opening 5 new coal-fired power plants. It comes close to completely reversing the President’s progress on battling transportation carbon emissions through fuel efficiency standards. If EPA permanently changes the methodology of the RFS, the United States will miss out on nearly 1 billion metric tons of cumulative carbon emission reductions by 2022.
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Democratic Governors Jay Inslee of Washington, Jerry Brown of California, and John Kitzhaber of Oregon recently wrote to the White House to point out that undermining the federal RFS collaterally undercuts their states’ low carbon fuel standards. READ MORE and MORE and MORE (Barrons)