EPA administrator Gina McCarthy says the agency will issue rules this spring that set the ethanol mandate and define the upstream reach of clean-water laws, according to DTN, but she did not offer a specific date for the announcement. At the National Farmers Union convention, McCarthy said the agency would finalize targets for ethanol use in 2014 and 2015, “and start the ball rolling on 2016 as soon as we possibly can.” The EPA failed to set a target for the biofuel in 2014 due to a protracted review of its proposal of a lower target than was set by law. The agency is months behind schedule to propose the 2015 mandate.
Gasoline consumption has been lower than expected due to weak economic growth. The oil industry has argued the market is saturated at the traditional 10-percent blend rate for biofuels, so a lower mandate is appropriate.
Under the 2007 energy law, conventional biofuels — basically corn-based ethanol — would be assured of a 14.4-billion-gallon share of the gasoline market in 2014, and 15 billion gallons of use annually starting in 2015. The development of second-generation biofuels, which do not use food crops as their raw materials, is slower than expected. The 2007 law anticipated 5.5 billion gallons of advanced biofuels would be available this year, but production is only a small fraction of that.
DTN quoted McCarthy as telling NFU, “We’re going to come out with a rule that is reasonable but also implementable,” referring to the clean-water rule, also known as “waters of the United States.” The American Farm Bureau Federation spearheaded a “ditch the rule” campaign that claims the EPA wants to regulate dry ditches in farm fields. More than 1 million comments were filed on the clear-water rule.
At 2 p.m. ET today, a House Agriculture subcommittee will “review the definition of the ‘waters of the United States’ proposed rule and its impact on rural America.” The Senate Agriculture Committee announced a hearing, set for March 24, “on the impacts of EPA’s proposed rule” on jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act.