EPA establishes fresh renewable fuel, biomass-based diesel quotas
The US Environmental Protection Agency established quotas on Nov. 30 for renewable fuels in 2019 and for biomass-based diesel in 2020. EPA said the conventional renewable fuel quota, which is met primarily by corn-based ethanol, will be maintained at 19 billion gal in 2019, while required advance biofuel volumes will climb by 630 million gal from 2018 to 19.92 billion gal.
The 2019 quota for cellulosic biofuels increased nearly 130 million gal to 418 million gal, EPA said. The 2020 biomass-based diesel quota was 330 million gal more than the 2019 required level.
Officials at several oil and gas and other trade associations were critical. “Implementing this broken program year after year simply doesn’t make sense. We need a comprehensive legislative solution that sunsets the Renewable Fuel Standard,” said American Petroleum Institute Downstream and Industry Operations Vice-Pres. Frank J. Macchiarola.
“The reality is that outdated assumptions made at the inception of the program, market forces, and technological innovations in the oil and natural gas industry have combined to necessitate a new policy framework,” Macchiarola said.
“We wish we could respond differently to this announcement this year, but this merely marks another year of more of the same increases in the mandate that are completely detached from reality,” the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers said in a statement.
“But, after more of a decade of this bad policy, we now look forward to working with EPA to reset these unrealistic volumes to better align with domestic production and market demand,” AFPM said. “Even still, there is only so much EPA can do to make the unworkable workable, so we continue to call on Congress to step in and fix this broken program once and for all.”
The latest numbers are high enough to set in motion a reset of the RFS program required by law when levels deviate more than 20% from those allowed under the RFS statute for 2 consecutive years, the National Council of Chain Restaurants said. The reset means EPA is required to conduct a complete review biofuel levels under the program, which could lead to lower levels being set, it added.
“Not only are those old levels wildly unrealistic for advanced fuels, the levels required for last-generation, conventional corn ethanol are unnecessary and run counter to the law’s environmental goals,” NCCR Executive Director David French said. “Corn ethanol is flatly bad for the environment and consumers alike, and it’s high time for the mandate to go away.”
National Marine Manufacturers Association Pres. Thom Dammrich said, “What’s absent from the EPA’s 2019 Renewable Volume Obligation requirements—and the larger RFS reform debate—is a commitment to protect middle-class consumers from higher-ethanol blended fuels. They deserve greater choice at their local gas station, awareness of proper fuel blends, and better safeguards and warning labels at the pump.”
Dammrich said, “Without these additional steps, expanding the volume of ethanol in the fuel supply is both irresponsible and dangerous. We urge the administration to protect the American consumer from misfuelling.”
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
Nick Snow
NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.
