The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that the compliance deadline for the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard is being extended from June 30 to September 30. The EPA intends to finalize the remaining portion of its rulemaking to establish the 2014 renewable fuel standards shortly.

EPA said the extension is warranted because they have not yet issued the 2014 annual standards rule. The agency received comments on the proposed rule “emphasizing the need for the EPA to promulgate the 2014 RFS standards quickly and the need for obligated parties to know their obligations for the following year when finalizing their 2013 compliance demonstrations.”

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) was among those requesting the extension and President Charles Drevna says it was the right decision. “While we do not believe that delaying the compliance date eliminates the injury caused by the late promulgation of the rule, it will provide obligated parties with a degree of certainty by knowing their blending obligations,” said Drevna in a statement. “Now more than six months late, the agency’s inability to recognize the impact of continued delays is yet another reason that Congress must address this set of mandates whose very premise has proven obsolete.”

The 2013 RFS mandated 16.55 billion gallons of biofuels be blended into US transportation fuels, including 2.75 billion gallons of advanced biofuels.