energy.agwired.com

For the fourth year now, Minnesota will move to a 20 percent biodiesel blend (B20) during the summer months before reverting back to five percent biodiesel blend (B5) on Oct. 1.

“With the ongoing debate around ‘Clean Cars’ and electric vehicles, we know that biodiesel is a proven, reliable solution to address climate and energy concerns. It’s reducing carbon right here, right now,” says Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) Senior Director of Product Development & Commercialization Mike Youngerberg, who’s also executive director of the Minnesota Biodiesel Council.

In 2020, using B20 in the summer and B5 in the winter has removed an estimated 1,252,967 tons of CO2 from the air. This equates to removing the emissions of nearly 246,000 passenger vehicles each year. According to the National Biodiesel Board, biodiesel Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reductions are on average 80% below petroleum diesel. Studies show biodiesel lowers particulate matter by 47%, reducing smog and improving Minnesota’s environment. Each year, cleaner-burning, renewable biodiesel displaces roughly 130 million gallons of petroleum diesel in Minnesota.

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court this week in the pending case on small refinery exemptions under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

In the case HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC, et al. v Renewable Fuels Association et al, NBB argues that small refinery exemptions destroy demand and limit future growth of biodiesel and renewable diesel under the RFS.

NBB asks the Supreme Court to affirm the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in order “to respect the appropriate limits Congress placed on refiners’ eligibility for small refinery exemptions, and to restore the conditions that allowed biomass-based diesel production to flourish, with all the attendant environmental, economic, and energy security benefits that Congress intended in enacting the RFS.”

Kurt Kovarik, NBB’s Vice President of Federal Affairs, added, “Biodiesel and renewable diesel producers appreciate EPA’s recognition that exemptions are only temporary mechanisms to transition small refineries into the RFS program. The agency has a duty to fully account for any exemptions it grants and ensure that the RFS volumes it sets each year are fully met. Continued misuse of small refinery exemptions is a direct threat to the U.S. biodiesel and renewable diesel industry and the 65,000 U.S. jobs and more than $17 billion in annual economic activity it supports. We look forward to working with EPA to get the RFS program back on track and support continued growth of the biodiesel industry.”

NBB estimates that small refinery exemptions granted since 2017 directly destroyed demand for more than 550 million gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel in the RFS advanced biofuel category. Arguments in the Supreme Court case are expected to be heard at the end of this month.