All Knowledge & Insights By Date

By Lynn L. Bergeson On June 8, 2018, petitioners in the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) case Coffeyville Resources Refining, et al. v. EPA filed their final briefs in the case challenging EPA’s final rule that established:  (1) the annual percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel (BBD), advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that apply to all motor vehicle gasoline and diesel produced or imported in the year 2017; and (2) the applicable...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On May 11, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a proposed renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel volumes rule for 2019 to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for pre-publication review.  The proposed rule addresses 2019 renewable blending obligations for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total biofuel, with a proposed 2020 percentage standard for biomass-based diesel. The 2019 blending requirement for biomass-based...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On May 3, 2018, the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA) announced that it had submitted a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s decision to provide waivers from RFS requirements. Michael McAdams, President of ABFA, stated:  “We have seen reports that the number of small refinery exemptions recently granted for compliance years 2016 and 2017 have doubled compared to previous years. ABFA...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On May 8, 2018, President Trump met with a group of Republican Senators and told them that he is considering allowing exported ethanol to count toward the volumes mandated by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).  During this meeting, Mr. Trump also reiterated support for expanding sales of E15, and withdrew his verbal proposal to cap the price of RINs, which had been widely criticized by the ethanol industry. These announcements came after increasing concern about the...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On April 6, 2018, a coalition of biofuel producers wrote to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) urging them to reach out to President Trump to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. EPA, under the direction of Administrator Scott Pruitt, recently provided a large oil refining company, Andeavor, with a hardship waiver. These waivers are typically given to small refineries producing less than 75,000 barrels per day that would suffer a...

Princeton University, “Researchers Use Light to Turn Yeast into Biochemical Factories” Biodiesel, “NBB Again Disappointed by Failure to Renew Biodiesel Tax Credit” Biodiesel Magazine, “DOJ Must Maintain Integrity of RFS, Reject PES Settlement” Reuters, “U.S. Asks Brazil to Review Ethanol Quotas in Tariff Talks - Industry Group” Berkeley Lab, “Sewage Sludge Leads to Biofuels Breakthrough”

Renewable Fuels Association, “Ethanol Industry Workers, Veterans Ask Trump To Support RFS” Reuters, “U.S. Biofuels Sector Blasts EPA Settlement With Bankrupt Philadelphia Refinery” Chemical & Engineering News, “Why Efforts To Use Green Fuels Sometimes Run Afoul” Great Lakes Bioenery, “It Pays To Study The Solvent: Better Biomass Conversion For Biofuels And Bioproducts” North Queensland Register, “Cloncurry Treated Sewage Water...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On March 8, 2018, Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced companion legislation (S. 2519, H.R. 5212) in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, respectively, to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).  The Growing Renewable Energy through Existing and New Environmentally Responsible (GREENER) Fuels Act aims to: Phase out the corn ethanol mandate and immediately reduce the amount of ethanol in fuel by as much as one...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On December 27, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to approve new fuel pathways under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.  Specifically, EPA is proposing to amend RFS regulations to define the term “distillers sorghum oil” and to add approved pathways from the production of biodiesel and heating oil from distillers sorghum oil via a transesterification process, and renewable diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, naphtha,...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On December 12, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program:  Standards for 2018 and Biomass-Based Diesel Volume for 2019 final rule.  This final rule sets the annual percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel for motor vehicle gasoline and diesel produced or imported in 2018, as well as biomass-based diesel for 2019.  As...