EPA Releases Much-Anticipated RFS Blending Rates

WASHINGTON, DC – The future of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is just a bit clearer today after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a package of proposals to set biofuel blending volumes while also rejecting 65 pending applications for small refinery exemptions (SREs).

First, on the blending front, where EPA is revising the 2020 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) to 17.13 billion gallons, setting the 2021 levels at 18.52 billion gallons and proposing the highest total volumes in history (20.77 billion gallons) in 2022, which is 3.5 billion gallons higher than the volume of renewable fuel used last year.

Second, EPA is also proposing to add a 250-million-gallon “supplemental obligation” to the volumes proposed for next year with the intent to add another 250 million gallons in 2023 to address the remand of the 2014-2016 annual rule by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals while also providing the market time to respond to the obligation.

Finally, the agency is preparing to deny 65 pending applications for SREs in response to a decision from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued in 2020 that narrowed the situations in which EPA can grant waivers. EPA is sharing a proposed adjudication of pending SRE petitions but acknowledges that this will have an effect on many different stakeholders and therefore will implement a public notice-and-comment process to seek additional input.

The proposed RVO for 2020 does give the biofuel industry a bit of heartburn however since EPA had proposed a 20.09 billion-gallon target back in December of 2019.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)