There have been three panels discussions on the new RFS-2 at the National Biodiesel Conference and they had to be moved to larger than scheduled rooms to handle all the people who wanted to hear about the new rules. The National Biodiesel Board is working on this issue and will be producing several webinars on the topic in the near future.
In the meantime, to learn more about it, I spoke with Paul Argyropoulos, EPA Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Transportation & Air Quality, who spoke at one of the sessions. I asked him what’s most important for the industry to know now. To start with he says, “We have a final rule which I think provides certainty to the market.” He then provides some additional points of importance specific to the biodiesel industry. I can’t figure out how to summarize them and they’re too long to translate so you’ll have to listen to the interview to hear them. That’s just the way it is with regulations this long and complicated. At this point he encourages you to dig into the regulations and understand what the reporting requirements are. He says they’re willing to work with you and they’re planning to produce some webinars as well. Paul says you can go to their website to get more information.
You can listen to my interview with Paul below.
If you’re wanting to know where biodiesel will sit at the oil company table then you’re in luck because we had a morning panel discussion here at the National Biodiesel Conference that included experts in the field to talk about it. The RFS-2 will likely mean that these companies will be adding biofuels to their product lines which has the potential to double biodiesel production in a single year. You’ll hear this talked about in the discussion.