Tuesday, November 30, 2010

EPA Finalizes 2011 Renewable Fuel

Under the Clean Air Act Section 211(o), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set renewable fuel standards each November for the following year based on gasoline and diesel projections from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The EPA is also required to set the cellulosic biofuel standard each year based on the volume projected to be available during the following year, using EIA projections and assessments of production capability from industry. This regulatory action finalizes these annual standards for cellulosic, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuels that apply to all gasoline and diesel produced or imported in year 2011.

The final rule also presents two changes to the RFS2 regulations. The first modifies the provision for “delayed RINs” to make it more broadly applicable to any biofuel production pathway so long as the biofuel was in commercial production on July 1, 2010.

The second regulatory provision being finalized in this rulemaking establishes criteria for the EPA to use in determining whether to approve petitions for foreign-grown feedstocks so that they may use an aggregate approach to comply with the renewable biomass verification provisions, akin to that applicable to producers using crops and crop residue grown in the United States.

No comments: