Senators Urge EPA To Set And Increase Biodiesel RFS Volumes

On February 9, 2015, a bi-partisan group of 32 Senators led by
Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Patty Murray (D-WA), and
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter
to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy
regarding 2014 and future biodiesel volume requirements under the federal Renewable
Fuel Standard (RFS). In their letter, the Senators urge EPA to get the
biodiesel renewable volume requirements (RVOs) under the RFS back on schedule.
To this end, the Senators request that EPA set the 2014 biodiesel RVOs at
actual production volumes and move to set the 2015 and 2016 RVOs as soon as
possible. The 2016
RVOs should have been set by December of 2014 under the RFS.

On February 10, 2015, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ranking Member
of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, sent a similar letter
to EPA Administrator McCarthy.

These new letters come at a time when EPA is being criticized
generally for delaying regulatory action on the RFS, and specifically for its
recent approval of the importation of biodiesel made with soybeans from
Argentinian biofuel producers as qualifying for credit under the RFS. See the Biobased
and Renewable Products Advocacy Group’s (BRAG^®) coverage of this
most recent issue.