EPA Starts Work On Rule To Reset Statutory RFS Biofuel Volume Mandates

摘要

EPA is starting technical analysis required to craft an upcoming rule resetting the mandatory biofuel production requirements under the renewable fuel standard (RFS), paving the way for the Trump administration to fundamentally alter the program's goals - likely by reducing statutory mandates for cellulosic biofuel production. Under the RFS, refiners and importers must blend increasing volumes of renewable fuels into the transportation and heating fuel supply. Congress set the volumes in the 2005 and 2007 energy laws that established the program under the Clean Air Act, but allowed EPA "general" and "cellulosic" waiver authority to set volumes lower than the statutory limits. Congressional limits expire in 2022, after which point EPA will set them itself.