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The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) ends its current phase in 2022. The EPA has asked the oil, corn, and biofuels industries for input on the next phase of the biofuel policy, according to Reuters.
Less than 2 weeks after the White House said it would reallocate billions of gallons (gal) of ethanol waived under the small refinery exemption (SRE) allowed under by federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the EPA announced an approach that farmers and ethanol manufacturers say fails to satisfy that assurance.
Appeals from the petroleum industry notwithstanding, the EPA recently announced that it will continue to take action to “significantly increase the 2020 U.S. biofuel mandate.” One promised action is rulemaking to streamline labeling and “remove other barriers” to the sale of E15, a fuel comprising 85 percent (%) conventional gasoline and 15% ethanol.
The EPA’s proposed 2020 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for petroleum refiners, which are required under the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), were greeted with almost universal disapproval from the ethanol industry and the farmers who grow crops that are converted into ethanol.