EPA is coordinating with USDA and the Department of Energy (DOE) on biofuel blending requirements past 2022, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said on Tuesday. EPA understands the requirements are of great importance to the biofuels industry, Regan said during remarks at the Growth Energy Biofuels Summit. He added that agriculture and the biofuels industry will play a key role in helping President Joe Biden meet climate goals, as the electric vehicle market will not be available immediately.
Regan said he anticipated the upcoming Renewable Volume Obligations — which set blending targets under the nation’s biofuel usage mandate — will leave room for growth in the industry. “The safest thing for me to say, since we’re in this stage that we are in the process, is... we want to continue to grow … we don’t want to take any steps backwards,” Regan said. “I believe that what we’re proposing will continue the progress that we’ve made up until this point.”
The volumes are expected to be proposed by Nov. 16 in line with a consent decree reached between EPA and Growth Energy in July. The decree requires the proposal to be finalized by June 14, 2023.
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Regan also said EPA plans to move forward on a petition from eight states to allow for summertime sales of E15 within their borders following the loss of a national waiver due to a 2021 court ruling. Those states – Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin – petitioned EPA for the authority to do so in April following the Biden administration’s move to use emergency authority to allow summertime sales of the fuel for 2022. But he says the process will take time to ensure it is on sound legal footing.
“What I think EPA has learned, especially the career staff, is when we rush and do things or we don’t follow the science or follow the law, it ends up in court and we all end up waiting in suspense,” Regan said. “We want to do this correctly, and I believe we’re taking all the appropriate steps we need to take to do this in a manner that will meet the 2023 ozone season but also meet the letter of the law.”
