EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin informed lawmakers the proposal for setting the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volumes for 2026 and beyond is nearing release. The proposed rule is currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
EPA Listening to Biofuels Industry This Time?
Geoff Cooper, president and CEO, Renewable Fuels Association, says the administration has been listening to their recommendations on setting volumes that encourage growth and demand.
“We recommended at least 15 billion gallon for conventional and 5.25 billion for biomass based diesel, and then when you layer on top a little bit of growth for advanced and cellulosic, you can easily see where EPA could be setting the total RFS volume at around 24 or 25 billion RINs.”
EPA Says Rumors on Biomass-Based Diesel Aren’t True
Recent rumors put volumes for biomass based diesel at 4.65 billion gallons, but Paul Winters, director of public affairs, Clean Fuel Alliance America, says EPA has assured them that number is false.
“They certainly have indicated the rumor circulated last week was incorrect — the volumes would not be that low. They do seem to understand and have definitely heard the message from our industry and the unified position on that 5.25 billion gallon volume,” he explains.
Still, Clean Fuels and 48 of its members sent a letter to EPA advocating for the 5.25 billion and reminding the agency that level was agreed upon with the American Petroleum Institute.
Cooper says that agreement is unprecedented: “We have alignment with the oil refiners. That’s not something we’ve ever had before when we go the discussions around renewable volume obligations and the RFS. That makes everyone’s job easier.”
OMB Holding Stakeholder Meetings
Stakeholders also have scheduled meetings with OMB through June 9 to provide comments, but EPA could fast track the process by canceling meetings to finalize the rule more quickly.
“Clean Fuels would be very happy to have the rule out in public and simply forego a formal meeting with OMB,” Winters says.
Either way, after OMB’s review EPA will publish the proposed rule, start a formal comment period and then take that input to craft the final rule.
“Administrator Zeldin has said many times, including on Capitol Hill just this week, he intends to have a final rule in place by the end of October this year, which would help, I think, restore and kind of get things back on the right timeline when it comes to the RFS,” Cooper says.
Zeldin also indicated EPA will be addressing a longstanding backlog of 160 plus small refinery exemption petitions.
