A letter from a bipartisan group of 39 senators was sent to EPA on Friday, urging the agency to increase the 2017 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) to the lofty levels set out by Congress back in 2007. It’s an idea that may work in theory, but today’s market realities tell a totally different story.
The corn lobby has falsely claimed recently that waivers granted by the EPA to small refiners—relieving them from the onerous costs of complying with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)—have destroyed demand for ethanol. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The biofuel lobby has made a number of claims to muddy the waters around the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and halt progress on better aligning vehicle and transportation fuel policies.
Much of the focus within the Renewable Fuel Standard is on corn ethanol and the 15-billion-gallon conventional biofuel mandate. But less critically examined in this policy administered by the Environmental Protection Agency is the mandate for advanced biofuels, including biodiesel.
Since the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was enacted, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has had the difficult responsibility of implementing a broken and unworkable biofuel blending program.
A new campaign from the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) spotlights the surging costs and unprecedented impact of biofuel mandates on U.S. refineries and the need for immediate action to get RFS costs under control.
Last week, the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) held their spring meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss, among several things, the changing energy and regulatory landscape during a Trump administration.
There is a fundamental flaw in the system designed to ensure compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): The assumption that refiners would not blend ethanol into their fuel were it not for the policy and its threat of crippling costs being imposed on obligated parties who do not blend.