Think Tank Proposes 40 Options to Change Ethanol Mandate

by Timothy Cama (The Hill) The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) published a report outlining 40 different options that it said could improve the country’s ethanol mandate.
The BPC said it set out to find a “middle ground” for reforming the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), acknowledging that advocates on both sides of the issue have pushed for complete repeal of the law or for no changes at all.
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The group said the options do not shot a consensus among stakeholders in the group, but “they are intended as a first step in exploring the ways in which constructive reforms could create a more robust and effective RFS program.” READ MORE and MORE (Oil & Gas Journal) and MORE (The Bipartisan Policy Center) and MORE (Biofuels Digest) Download the full report Download the report overview Download the inventory summary

Excerpt from Biofuels Digest: ... BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization) and AEC (Advanced Ethanol Council), in a joint statement, observed:

“Almost all of the legislative modifications put forth by BPC were those sought by the oil industry in 2005, then again in 2007, when the RFS was first legislated and amended. Unfortunately, this report is yet another veiled attempt by the oil industry to get a redo in Congress on critical RFS debates they lost the first and second time. While the report includes some separate policies that would expedite the commercial deployment of advanced biofuels, the core legislative recommendations would give the oil industry control over the trajectory of the RFS. It is discouraging that the BPC seems to think that allowing the oil industry to control the discussion and the policy itself will somehow create a better investment environment for the commercial deployment of advanced biofuels. Just the opposite is true.” READ MORE

Excerpt from the overview: Given the complexity of the RFS, the inventory was designed to address biofuels challenges at multiple scales, across many topical areas, through multiple mechanisms, and over varying periods of time.
Therefore, no one policy option contained in the inventory will serve as a single solution to all of the challenges of the RFS; options must be combined—and considered in tandem—if they are to meet one or more desired objectives. In addition, some options may contradict others, and so policy priorities and goals must be considered when advocating for any particular package of options.
To help in organizing the inventory, each of the policy options was categorized in two ways. The first is the authority required to implement a particular option; that is, whether an idea could be implemented through EPA regulatory action alone, whether it would require legislation, or whether—depending on implementation—it could fall into either group. The second category is the topical area (or areas) to which an option applies: production, consumption, mandate, implementation, or environment and agriculture.

• Production options aim to reduce the limitations on the production of biofuels;
• Consumption options target the reduction of limitations on the consumption of biofuels;
• Mandate options intend to modify the biofuel mandate volumes, reallocate or otherwise distribute volumes
among the categories, and/or affect the mandate through changes to RIN equivalency values;
• Implementation options deal with the regulatory and process aspects of the RFS as specified and carried out
by EPA; and
• Environment and agriculture options aim to improve the environmental and/or agricultural performance of
biofuels throughout their lifecycles. READ MORE and MORE (Algae Biomass Organization)

Advisory Group
In order to support constructive dialogue in this ongoing debate, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) Energy Project convened an advisory group of diverse stakeholders who agreed to discuss legislative and/or regulatory reforms that could put the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on a stable footing. The advisory group met three times over the course of
2014, and their discussions, deliberations, agreements, and disagreements have informed the policy options outlined in this document. BPC also received feedback from a number of additional stakeholders at various times throughout the process. These options are intended as an inventory of regulatory and/or legislative policy actions to improve the RFS, though they do not represent the consensus of the advisory group. In addition, participation by individuals and/or organizations in the advisory group does not constitute or imply their endorsement of any of the options or information contained in this report.

John Askounis
Manager, Environmental Fuels and
Regulatory Affairs
Phillips 66

Bruce Babcock
Cargill Chair of Energy Economics
Iowa State University

Mike Brien
Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs
BP America

Dayne Delahoussaye
Legal Counsel and Regulatory Affairs
Manager (U.S. & Canada)
Neste Oil

Edward L. Ferguson
Director, Environment & Energy
The Boeing Company

Leo Goff
President and CEO
ACARYIS – Energy Solutions

Chandler Goule
Senior Vice President of Programs
National Farmers Union

Bruce Harris
Senior Director, Federal Government Relations
Walmart

Roger Johnson
President
National Farmers Union

John Kasbaum
Senior Vice President, Commercial
KiOR Inc.

Jay Kesan
Professor and Workman Research Scholar
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Sarah Magruder Lyle
Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers

Al Mannato
Downstream Issues Manager
ExxonMobil Corporation

Jeremy Martin
Senior Scientist, Clean Vehicles Program
Union of Concerned Scientists

Mark McCarthy
Senior Energy Researcher, Energy & Environmental Research Group
Toyota Motor North America

John Reese
Downstream Policy and Advocacy Manager, Americas
Shell Oil

Benjamin Salisbury
Senior Policy Analyst, SVP
FBR Capital Markets

Brian Siu
Senior Legislative Advocate
Natural Resources Defense Council

Jeff Trucksess
Advisor
Green Earth Fuels of Houston, LLC

Joel Velasco
Senior Vice President
Amyris

Denise Viola
Downstream Policy and Advocacy General Manager
Shell Oil

Eric Washburn
Partner, Policy Resolution Group
Bracewell Giuliani

Robert Wimmer
Director, Energy & Environmental Research Group
Toyota Motor North America