Rulemaking for this year’s ethanol mandate “has been more time-consuming than originally anticipated,” says the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA says it received more than 300,000 comments on its proposal to scale down the renewable fuels target set by law. The comments involve “numerous specific issues related to the 2014 standards which the EPA needs, and wishes, to thoroughly consider and respond to,” the agency says.
All the same, EPA said it “intends to finalize the remaining portion of its rulemaking to establish the 2014 renewable fuel standards shortly.” For weeks, officials said they expected to act by late June.
Last fall, EPA proposed an overall Renewable Fuels Standard, including “advanced” biofuels, of 15.21 billion gallons. Corn-based ethanol would qualify for about 13 billion gallons, roughly the same as 2013. Senior EPA officials have said a recent upturn in gasoline consumption could affect their decision. Iowa Sen Charles Grassley said he told a White House official on Tuesday “it’s going to be harmful to ethanol” if the target is lower than set in a 2007 law.