Biofuel & Ethanol

When Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard, the intent was clear. The RFS was supposed to build a market for American-grown biofuels and support domestic energy security. Today, EPA wants to deviate wildly from this course. Instead of maintaining the RFS as a program for liquid transportation biofuels, EPA’s RFS proposal for 2023 to 2025 would begin transforming the RFS into yet another huge government subsidy for electric vehicles.

AFPM Senior Director of Fuels & Vehicle Policy Patrick Kelly today issued the following statement on EPA's announcement that it will grant requests from eight Midwestern states to remove the 1.0 psi RVP waiver from summertime gasoline effective next year. If implemented, these states will no longer be able to sell the current blend of summertime gasoline and a new grade of gasoline will need to be manufactured and supplied to the region.

Eight midwestern governors have petitioned the EPA seeking to opt their states out of the federal 1-pound Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) waiver which is a requirement to sell the current summertime blend of E10 gasoline. If these requests are granted, the E10 gasoline currently sold in most of the country during summer months will no longer be offered for sale in these states and annual costs to introduce a new gasoline bend will range from $500-$800 million each year.

AFPM Senior Director of Fuels and Vehicle Policy, Patrick Kelly, testified during the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) public hearing on the proposed Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) “Set” Rule. EPA’s proposal will stifle advanced biofuels, promote first generation biofuels beyond the market’s ability to absorb them and shift overall RFS growth away from liquid biofuels and into the power electricity sector. This is completely contrary to how congress envisioned EPA’s handling of the program.

AFPM's Geoff Moody issued the following statement responding to the EPA's 2023-2025 proposal for RFS blending obligations: “Congress provided EPA the ability to modernize the RFS and set it on a more sustainable course for all stakeholders. Sadly, EPA’s proposal is a missed opportunity..."

EPA's 2022 RFS standard is bewildering and contrary to the Administration’s claims to be doing everything in their power to provide relief to consumers. Unachievable mandates will needlessly raise fuel production costs and further threaten the viability of U.S. small refineries, both at the expense of consumers.

American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers CEO Chet Thompson today issued the following statement on the Biden administration’s announcement that it plans to invoke emergency waiver authority under the Clean Air Act to allow for the incremental sale of E15 fuel this summer.

EPA’s blanket denial of relief for small refineries is a political decision that contradicts Congress’s design for the RFS. We are deeply disappointed in this and in the precedent it sets for small refineries experiencing hardship and the communities and regions that rely on these facilities for energy security.