The Renewable Fuel Standard is the most successful clean energy tool available to the government, which should make full use of it when setting the biofuel mandate for 2023 and future years, said farm and biofuel trade groups on Thursday. “What we’re really looking to take place with EPA is that they maximize the full potential of the RFS,” said Emily Skor, chief executive of Growth Energy.
The EPA is due to announce its “set” for the RFS by Nov. 16. It would be the first time the agency has a free hand, rather than working with a target written into a 2007 law, in drafting the regulation. The EPA would be guided by six factors in U.S. clean air law, including the environment, the economy, and energy security.
Skor and Geoff Cooper, chief executive of the Renewable Fuels Association, told reporters that they expect the EPA “set” to expand biofuel volumes from this year’s 15.25 billion gallons of corn ethanol and 5.63 billion gallons of advanced biofuels and to list the biofuel targets for the next two or three years.
“We are, of course, advocating for rational and reasonable growth in all categories of renewable fuels beyond the 2022 levels,” said Cooper. Skor agreed: “No backsliding [and] leaning in” on biofuel volumes. Skor and Cooper declined to discuss potential volumes.
“We are producing more and more with less and less,” said Jon Doggett, head of the National Corn Growers Association, so each bushel of corn had a smaller carbon footprint than in the past. “We believe in a strong ‘set’ rule.” Cooper said the EPA should switch to a newer model for assessing life-cycle emissions of ethanol.
Production of renewable diesel and biodiesel is booming, with output forecast to rise by as much as 2.5 billion gallons in the next two and a half years, said Donnell Rehagen of Clean Fuels Alliance America. “Significant growth is coming,” he said. “We are looking for EPA to take a little more aggressive approach” in setting the RFS for advanced biofuels, which produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than first-generation biofuels or petroleum.
The groups said sustainable aviation fuel, a new sector, could be a dynamic market for renewable fuels.