Senators Pressing EPA to Set Renewable Fuel Standard for Biodiesel
EPA has not finalized the 2014 RFS, while the 2015 standard for biodiesel is a year late and the 2016 standard, also lacking, was to have been announced by December 2014, said the Feb. 9 letter from the Republican and Democratic senators.
“Biodiesel is the first EPA-designated advanced biofuel under the RFS to reach commercial scale production nationwide,” the senators said.
They also said that biodiesel production is exceeding the goals that Congress in 2005 set down for the alternative fuel, which in some states, such as Minnesota and Oregon, is required to be blended into diesel fuel sold there.
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Congress established the RFS to stimulate the production of alternative fuels by requiring the renewables to be blended into transportation fuel in increasing amounts each year.
EPA delays in setting RFS standards have created “tremendous uncertainty and hardship for the U.S. biodiesel industry and its thousands of employees,” the senators said.
“Plants have reduced production, and some have been forced to shut down, resulting in layoffs and lost economic productivity,” they wrote.
Among the senators signing the letter were Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
“On behalf of biodiesel producers across the country I want to thank Sens. Heitkamp, Blunt, Grassley and Murray, as well as all of the other senators who signed the letter, for their leadership on this issue,” said Anne Steckel, vice president of federal affairs at the National Biodiesel Board.
“These senators understand that we need clear, stable policy to break our dangerous dependence on petroleum and diversify our fuel supplies with cleaner alternatives that create jobs and economic activity in the U.S.”
“There is absolutely no reason for continued delays in the biodiesel volumes in the RFS. This could be done tomorrow,” Steckel added.
Biodiesel is made from such natural sources as soybean oil, recycled cooking oil and animal fats.
According to the Biodiesel Board, production plants are in nearly every state, and the industry supports about 60,000 jobs.
