EPA announcement on Renewable Fuel Standard

Biofuels Digest will be reporting live on the EPA announcement regarding rulemaking on the Renewable Fuel Standard regarding indirect and direct greenhouse gas emissions.

Secretary Vilsack: An important day for rural America. Signed and executed an exec memorandum to interagency group. Opportunity for biofuels to be key. Create biofuel marketing development program. Infrastructure in a sustainable way. Aggressive plan and timeline. Commitment to rural development to create clean jobs. Additional income opportunities for ranchers and farmers, jobs for rural communities, energy security for all Americans. Restructure investments already made. Will meet the deadline set by the president, 30 days for the energy title in the farm bill. Assist first-gen plants in restructuring finance to get more time. Go further than research projects, emissions.

To work in concert with the industry to create a market for biofuels, increase the use of flexible-fuel cars in the US, and to coordinate the infrastructure and do so in a sustainable way.

Administrator Jackson: Proud to announce a few minutes a proposed rules for increased use of advanced biofuels. Billions to rural and farming communities and reduce vulnerability to oil price spikes. EISA required corn-based ethanol and first transition to advanced cellulosic biofuels. The rule will be posted online today.

There will be paths for biodiesel in the proposed rule to meet the RFS emissions requirements of 50 percent, and there will pathways for corn ethanol plants built after 2007 to meet the 20 percent GHG reductions required. Plants built before 2007 are grandfathered under the 2007 EISA Act.

Seeking peer review, and more comments over the next 60 days.

Secretary Chu: $786 million in recovery money for expansion of integrated biorefineries with heat and power, bioproducts, and increasing biorefinery products. Launch of an Algae Biofuels Consortium, and increased funding to three energy research centers that are part of the Office of Science.

More background on indirect land use change and other RFS issues is here.

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