Soybean Association Comments On EPA’s RFS Rule

Soybean crop

The U.S. EPA announced the finalization of its proposed Renewable Fuel Standard volume requirements for 2013 for conventional biofuels, cellulosic biofuels, and the total amount of Advanced Biofuels. EPA had previously finalized the 2013 volume requirements for biomass-based diesel at 1.28 billion gallons.

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According to the American Soybean Association, the announcement finalizes the requirement for total Advanced Biofuel at 2.75 billion gallons. The Advanced Biofuel requirement is important to the biodiesel industry because biodiesel — as an EPA-designated Advanced Biofuel under the RFS — can fill not just the Biomass-based Diesel requirement of the program but also part, or all, of the overall Advanced Biofuel requirement.

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The decision to maintain the Advanced requirement at 2.75 billion gallons offers an additional market opportunity for biodiesel above and beyond the minimum 1.28 billion gallon Biomass-based Diesel requirement for 2013.

“As producers of the feedstock that accounts for more than half of all domestic biodiesel production, we are very pleased with today’s announcement,” said ASA President Danny Murphy, a soybean farmer from Canton, Miss. “The updated volumes for 2013 will allow the promising growth of the biodiesel industry to continue unhindered, and we appreciate Administrator McCarthy and the EPA’s work to see that through.”

EPA also announced it has denied two petitions for reconsideration of the 2013 biomass-based diesel standard of 1.28 billion gallons. These appeals were submitted by petroleum groups in late November 2012, raising a number of issues, including the impact of the 2012 drought and concerns about fraudulent RINs. The EPA determined that the petitions failed to meet the requirements for reconsideration under the Clean Air Act.

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