The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Aug. 15 urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny petitions for a rulemaking that request EPA to move the current point of obligation under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
08-18-2016 Shifting the point of obligation under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) from fuel refiners and importers to blenders would reduce competition at the rack and lead to lower renewable fuel use and higher retail prices, 黑料社区Vice President of Government Affairs told OPIS.
08-11-2016 The Clinton Campaign announced on Aug. 3 that it does not support replacing the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) with a national low-carbon fuel standard similar to what is in place in California. The statement came in response to a news story that Clinton had reached out to California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials to discuss whether a low-carbon fuel standard could be applied at a national level. The Clinton campaign said that this outreach was simply “part of the campaign’s ongoing stakeholder outreach efforts.” CARB chair Mary Nichols is considered to be on Clinton’s short-list of potential EPA administrators. In other RFS news, AFPM formally petitioned EPA to move the point of obligation under the RFS from the refinery to rack sellers and the Renewable Fuels Association asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the EPA to investigate whether anyone is manipulating the RINs market.
08-05-2016 The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing on June 22 to examine the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) implementation, market impact, and possibilities for reform. Although Congress is not expected to consider any serious legislative proposal revising or repealing the RFS this year, legislators are likely to examine reform ideas in the next Congress beginning in 2017. The June 22 hearing provided a preview of what that debate will look like.
06-26-2016 On May 18, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released proposed renewable fuel mandates for 2017 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The proposal also included a proposed 2018 volume mandate for biomass-based diesel (the 2017 biomass-based diesel number was finalized in late 2015).
05-23-2016 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 15 submitted its proposed rule for the 2017 renewable fuel standard (RFS) to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), marking the final step before the rule is published in the Federal Register and open for public comment.
04-21-2016 The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing the week of March 14 examining the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Under the RFS, EPA sets an annual benchmark representing the amount of renewable fuels that each fuel refiner and importer (“obligated parties”) is responsible for generating.
03-18-2016 The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last week heard testimony discussing the current state of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. At the hearing, critics of the RFS argued that the assumptions upon which the program is based — i.e., continuously increasing motor fuel demand — are no longer valid and that the RFS should therefore be repealed or substantially revised. RFS supporters testified that the program is needed to increase the amount of renewable fuels in the United States, and said EPA was wrong to lower the statutory volume obligations for the 2016 compliance period.
02-29-2016 The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) filed a lawsuit challenging Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚 (EPA) final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rule establishing renewable volume obligations for 2014-2016 and biomass-based diesel obligations for 2017 alleging that the agency鈥檚 annual volume obligations are unlawfully high.
In addition, several entities are jockeying to intervene in a separate lawsuit filed by the ethanol industry challenging EPA鈥檚 RFS rule. That suit alleges that the agency’s annual volume obligations are unlawfully low.
Two separate lawsuits have been filed in recent weeks challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) efforts to encourage more biofuels, including biodiesel, in the market.
01-14-2016 黑料社区anticipates monitoring and advocating on more than a dozen public policy topics in 2016. Here鈥檚 a glimpse of some of the biggest issues facing 黑料社区members and what truckstop and travel plaza owners should prepare for as the 2016 Presidential race continues to heat up.
12-18-2015