Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency held a hearing to discuss the latest renewable fuels proposal. One goal of the hearing was to determine if current 2011 mandates will be met by the obligated parties and to ensure the industry can produce enough fuel. Also under debate is whether the 2012 mandates are too high. Joe Jobe, the CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, was one of several industry leaders who testified during the hearing.
Jobe testified the EPA’s proposal represents a modest and sustainable level of growth in the biomass-based diesel program that is consistent with the availability of the diverse feedstocks used to produce biodiesel including used cooking oil, used waste grease and vegetable oil. Jobe also noted that biodiesel is the only EPA-designated advanced biofuel being produced on a commercial scale across the country.
“While we believe these are conservative targets for the U.S. biodiesel industry, we applaud the EPA for proposing a reasonable increase,” Jobe said in a statement after the hearing. “As America’s only EPA-designated advanced biofuel to reach commercial-scale production nationwide, we are ready to meet the challenge.”
The biodiesel industry currently has more than 1 billion gallons approved with the EPA and is on track to achieve the EPA’s 2011 standard of 800 million gallons. This year, average production is nearly 75 million gallons per month with a high of 82 million gallons during May.
The proposed biomass-based diesel requirements for next year are set at 1 billion gallons and nearly 1.3 billion gallons for 2013. It should be noted that biodiesel not only qualifies, and makes up almost the entirety of the biomass-based diesel category, but it is also approved as an advanced biofuel. In fact, biodiesel made from corn oil has the lowest carbon intensity score of all commercial scale biofuels.
“We’re confident that we can meet these production goals. In doing so, we’ll help cure America’s oil addiction with a clean-burning renewable fuel while creating good-paying American jobs,” said Jobe. “This program was developed to wean the country off foreign oil with cleaner homegrown fuels, and we believe it’s working as intended.”