The Environmental Protection Agency has designated Renewable Energy Group’s biodiesel plant in Newton, Iowa as the nation’s first “RFS2 Ready” RINs generating facility.

The facility has completed the first two steps in the three-part compliance preparedness timeline and is now listed as having “Completed & Accepted Registration” status:

REG Newton’s engineering process review has been submitted to the EPA. This engineering review, along with all other re-registration materials, is awaiting final review to meet “Approved Registration” status.

“Being the nation’s first biodiesel plant re-registered and ready to supply EPA-compliant RINs along with high quality biodiesel to meet volumetric requirements of RFS2 is an important signal to the petroleum industry,” explained Gary Haer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Renewable Energy Group. “Renewable Energy Group, specifically—and the biodiesel industry, in general—are committed to helping our petroleum partners meet their compliance requirements on time. We look forward to quickly reaching ‘Approved Registration’ status to be fully compliant within EPA’s guidelines for RFS2.”

The plant is capable of producing 30 million gallons of biodiesel a year. REG hopes to have all of its biodiesel plants re-registered and eligible to generate RINs by the July 1, 2010 compliance date.