WASHINGTON Today, 17 members of the House Biofuels Caucus sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, urging the agency to complete its 2017 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in a manner consistent with the Congressional intent to aggressively expand the production of renewable fuels. The 2017 proposal calls on refiners to blend 14.8 billion gallons of conventional biofuels in 2017, slightly below the 15-billion-gallon level envisioned by Congress when it expanded the RFS in 2007. RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen released the following statement: We thank the lawmakers for their leadership to ensure EPA finalizes a strong RFS that gets the program back on track. As the House members wrote, a final rule that falls short of the conventional biofuel cap will do nothing to assuage critics of the program, while missing an opportunity to refocus on addressing the pressing issues needed to fully realize the potential renewable fuels can make for our economy and energy security. We couldnt agree more. As we outlined in comments to EPA this week on its proposed 2017 RFS rule, theres no justification for lowering the conventional biofuel target. Record levels of E10 consumption, broader availability of E15 and E85, more than 2 billion surplus renewable identification numbers and other factors make the statutory requirement readily achievable in 2017. Its time EPA follows the statutory requirement and increase the conventional biofuel target to 15 billion gallons.
