The Environmental Protection Agency this week is expected to finally propose renewable fuel volumes for 2023 and beyond, following months of delays.
EPA has until Wednesday to propose RFS volumes under a consent decree with the ethanol industry filed in D.C. federal District Court that extended by two-weeks an earlier deadline.
The proposal by law was due over a year ago, and Renewable Fuels Association head Geoff Cooper says won’t be finalized now until next June.
“Part of this package is going to be the rules for 2023, and so, we will again be in a situation where, at least the first several months of the year, the marketplace will be flying blind a bit, because we won’t have final volumes from EPA.”
Still, Cooper’s hopeful the proposed volumes for conventional ethanol and advanced biofuels will be robust.
“We’ve been very encouraged by what we’ve heard and what we’ve seen from this EPA, and specifically, this administrator, Michael Regan, has been very committed to getting the RFS back on track and restoring growth and integrity in the program.”
But still in question—will EPA raise the conventional ethanol target above 15 billion gallons, and will it recapture billions of gallons lost to illegal reductions and waivers in the Obama and Trump years.
