EPA Should Reissue the 2014 RFS Proposal Consistent with the Statute, BIO Says

It is imperative that the Environmental Protection Agency gets the administration of the annual Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations (RVOs) back on track,” the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) wrote today in comments on the proposed consent decree to resolve oil industry lawsuits against the agency over delays in finalizing the rulemakings.

“BIO is supportive of EPA’s commitments contained in the proposed consent decree, which would establish definitive deadlines this year for EPA to take final action on the 2014 RFS rule and proposed and final action on the 2015 RFS rule,” Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section, wrote in the official comments. “EPA should withdraw its proposed 2014 RFS rule and reissue it by June 1, 2015, to include advanced and total renewable biofuel volumes that are consistent with the RFS statute.”

Erickson added: “Just as the cellulosic and advanced biofuel producers began to successfully commercialize new technologies, EPA rulemaking delays generated instability in the RFS program and intolerable investment uncertainty. The policy instability is responsible for chilling as much as $13.7 billion in investments that the advanced biofuel industry needed to build capacity to meet the RFS goals.”

BIO recently released an analysis showing that instability in EPA’s administration of the RFS is responsible for chilling as much as $13.7 billion in investments that the advanced biofuel industry needed to build capacity to meet the RFS goals. The chill in investment has had the heaviest impact on cellulosic biofuel developers. The delays in rulemaking have also undercut the industry’s ability to create new employment opportunities, resulting in the loss of more than 80,000 direct jobs. Copies of the analysis can be downloaded at http://www.bio.org/articles/estimating-chilled-investment-advanced-biofuels-due-rfs-uncertainty.