As stakeholders eagerly await the impending official release of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rule, strong advocacy from all sides continues on the issue in Washington. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been reviewing the proposed rule since August 30, 2013. Recently, a draft of it was leaked (the leaked draft proposal). In the leaked draft proposal, for the first time, EPA would lower the RFS target volumes not only for cellulosic biofuels, but for conventional ethanol and advanced biofuels as well.
On October 23, 2014, biofuels advocates, including representatives from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC), DuPont, Novozymes, and Abengoa, met with officials from OMB and the White House. Reportedly, they urged the Administration to reconsider the leaked draft proposal. They argued that the oil and gas industry's concerns about the blendwall — the point at which no additional E10 may be blended into the fuel supply — are unfounded and result not from the inability to blend greater amounts of ethanol into the fuel supply, but instead from the industry's refusal to do so. On October 29, 2013, BIO and AEC sent a letter signed by over 30 biofuels companies to President Obama again urging the Administration to reconsider the leaked draft proposal and stressing the importance of consistent RFS implementation to promoting investment in biofuels, including next generation biofuels.
This week, AAA and Sportsmen have come out in support of the oil and gas industry's position that EPA should lower the RFS volume requirements for ethanol to no more than 9.7 percent of the U.S. fuel supply. AAA echoes the industry's argument that such reduction is needed due to the E10 blend wall and concern that E15 could damage car engines. The Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation held a briefing this week during which it suggested that the ethanol volume requirements under the RFS have caused hunting and fishing areas to be converted to cropland, and have degraded water quality in the Mississippi River watershed, among other changes.