In a letter to seven senators last week, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt committed to final 2018 Renewable Fuel Standard renewable volume obligations at levels “equal to or greater than the proposed amounts, including at least 2.1 billion gallons for biomass-based diesel in 2018 and 2019.” But just “equal to” what has been proposed is well below what the biodiesel industry is capable of supplying.
“Flat volumes of biodiesel show that the Trump administration is considering implementing policies that will harm the American biodiesel industry. We are going to continue to work closely with the EPA and the White House to help them understand that a robust biodiesel industry is what the law requires. We cannot settle for the biomass-based diesel volume remaining flat at 2.1 billion gallons,” said Doug Whitehead, chief operating officer at the National Biodiesel Board (NBB).
In comments on the EPA Notice of Data Availability (NODA) that would further reduce overall biofuels volumes under the RFS, NBB said the U.S. biomass-based diesel industry “can generate 2.6 billion gallons right now and has the additional registered capacity to ramp up production even higher with sufficient continuing support from the RFS volumes.”