The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposed rules for the 2013 Renewable Fuels Standard yesterday. A portion of the proposal focused on dealing with Renewable Identification Number (RIN) fraud. Last year, several individuals were indicted for committing fraud by selling fake biodiesel RINS. The proposal is open for comment until March 19, 2013 and the industry is just now beginning to review and digest what it entails.

“While we are still reviewing the details, this proposal appears to be another positive step toward ensuring that RIN fraud is a thing of the past,” said Anne Steckel, National Biodiesel Board’s vice president of federal affairs. “We want to thank the EPA for working aggressively to address this issue and for proposing constructive solutions that will restore confidence in RIN markets.”

Steckel continued, “This problem was caused by a handful of wrongdoers who took advantage of a good policy for advancing America’s energy security. Two of those people are now facing significant prison time, and that enforcement along with these tightened regulations will go a long way toward preventing anything like this from happening again.”

The organization intends to continue working cooperatively with the EPA and our partners in the petroleum sector in bringing this issue to closure.

While the fraud cases were around biodiesel RINS, the EPA proposed rules addresses fraud across all renewable fuel sectors of the RFS. This includes ethanol RINS and cellulosic RINS. Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy said, “We are pleased to see that EPA is moving forward with a voluntary program to address the concerns raised about the integrity of RINS in the RFS program. We look forward to reviewing the proposal and will work with EPA to ensure that the program is successful.”