U.S. sets record biofuel mandates
segunda-feira, junho 06, 2022
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reduced the volumes of biofuel use that refineries are required to prove for last year, but increased this year's mandate. The Joe Biden administration's decision pleased the U.S. rural sector.
For this year's mandate, the agency established a blending obligation of 20.63 billion gallons (78.09 billion liters) of renewable fuels. The volume is slightly lower than that proposed in December last year, but it is the largest obligation ever established in the history of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.
Of the total volume, refineries will have to use 5.63 billion gallons (21.31 billion liters) of advanced biofuels, and 630 million gallons (2.38 billion liters) are expected to be specifically cellulosic biofuels. The other 15 billion gallons (56.78 billion liters) are expected to be conventional biofuels, such as corn ethanol.
The increased mandatory use of biofuels in the U.S. is advocated by the Biden administration as a way to ensure energy security. EPA Director Michael S. Regan said the decision will decrease U.S. dependence on oil and that the government is focused on "providing more options for consumers at the pumps."
Initially, the agency had proposed a total mandatory volume of 20.09 billion gallons (76 billion liters), but in the first formal proposal, presented in December last year, the proposal had already dropped to 18.52 billion gallons (70.11 billion liters). The volume was adjusted to better reflect the behavior of fuel consumption last year, when demand was still recovering from the first tassum of the pandemic.
When the EPA reviews mandates from previous years, refineries need to retroactively adjust volumes by purchasing biofuel credits, RINs (identification numbers related to production batches). The agency also confirmed that the 2020 mandate is 17.13 billion gallons (64.84 billion liters).
Exemption requests denied
In addition to reviewing the mandates of the past two years, the EPA has denied 69 requests for exemption from compliance with mandates from 2016 to 2021. The agency said the ruling is in accordance with a court ruling that exemptions can only be granted if the economic damage caused to small refineries stems from compliance with mandatory volumes. On the other hand, the agency offered relief to small refineries by postponing mandatory compliance volumes of 2020.
In the assessment of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the measures announced today "put the RFS back on track." "The combination of a strong mandatory renewable volume for 2022, the restoration of illegally exempted volumes since 2016, and the new direction for the small refinery exemption program puts the RFS program at a solid step into the future," Geoff Cooper, president of the RFA, said in a statement.
Source: udop
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