WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley testified before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance date extension proposal.
“The intent of the RFS is to blend more biofuels into our nation’s transportation fuel supply. Period,” said Bliley. “It is not meant to reward oil companies for suing to prevent higher blends and then demand that the agency further delay compliance.
“With recent research showing that greenhouse gas emissions from corn ethanol are 46 percent lower than gasoline, it makes no sense why EPA would continue to allow further delays for oil companies to demonstrate compliance with their blending obligations.
“Instead, EPA should take immediate steps to restore integrity to the RFS, restore lost biofuel demand, and remove remaining hurdles to E15 and higher biofuel blends.”
Read Bliley’s full remarks as prepared for delivery here.
Background
On Thursday, November 18th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to extend the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) compliance deadlines for 2019 and 2020, as well as for the yet to be proposed 2021 RVO. EPA proposed to establish general timeframes for the extended compliance deadlines without giving specific dates. In addition, EPA proposed to change how future compliance deadlines are determined. The 2019 RVO compliance deadline for small refineries was set for November 30, 2021, and the 2020 RVO compliance deadline for all obligated parties is currently set for January 31, 2022.
Earlier this year, EPA extended the compliance deadline for small refineries to demonstrate compliance with their 2019 Renewable Volume Obligations (and for all obligated parties to demonstrate compliance with their 2020 RVOs. Growth Energy submitted comments to the agency urging EPA not to extend the deadlines, and Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley also testified before EPA on the issue.