The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) sent a letter today to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt urging him to keep the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on track in 2018.
“The ethanol industry was highly encouraged by your commitment to ‘administer the [RFS] program according to the intent of Congress’ and to keep the program’s rulemakings on schedule,” RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen wrote to Administrator Pruitt. “When affected parties under the RFS are provided with regulatory certainty and sufficient lead time for planning, they have consistently demonstrated an ability to adapt their operations and comply with the standards.”
Dinneen encouraged Pruitt to ensure the RFS renewable volume obligation (RVO) rulemaking stays on schedule and maintains the conventional renewable fuel requirement at the statutory level of 15 billion gallons. Along with the letter, RFA also sent a new analysis to EPA showing that gasoline in the United States contained more than 10% ethanol in 2016 to prove that the so-called “blend wall” is no barrier to RFS compliance.
“Over the past 18 months, obligated parties have shown that they can readily achieve compliance with RFS requirements if EPA’s annual RVO rulemakings remain faithful to Congressional intent, are published on schedule, and provide certainty to the marketplace. Accordingly, we respectfully ask that EPA ensures the 2018 RVO rulemaking process remains on schedule, and that the 2018 conventional renewable fuel volume requirement remains at the statutory level of 15 billion gallons,” Dinneen concluded.