EPA sets biofuel requirements

   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its Renewable Fuel Standard volume requirements for advanced biofuel, maintaining the rules at 2.75 billion gallons.
   The volume requirement for biomass-based diesel is 1.28 billion gallons.
   “As producers of the feedstock that accounts for more than half of all domestic biodiesel production, we are very pleased with today’s announcement,” Danny Murphy, president of the American Soybean Association, said in a statement. “The updated volumes for 2013 will allow the promising growth of the biodiesel industry to continue unhindered.”
   The EPA lowered the requirements on cellulosic biofuel from the originally proposed 14 million gallons to 6 million gallons. The administration maintained the requirements for conventional biofuel at 13.8 billion gallons and pegged the requirement for total renewable fuel at 16.55 billion gallons.
   Finally, the agency signaled that it would reduce some requirements for conventional and advanced biofuels next year.
   “EPA’s actions to reduce the cellulosic biofuel requirement for 2013, and to indicate that it will likely reduce the total Conventional and Advanced Biofuel requirements from those set in the statute can be seen as proof that EPA has the flexibility it needs to adjust volume requirements under the RFS based on marketplace realities and that no legislation is needed to revise or repeal the RFS,” Murphy said. – Jon Ross