The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced late Tuesday that it would extend the public comment period for the proposed rule on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS-2). The public now has until September 25th to submit comment.
It is unclear how the EPA plans to reconcile the comment period extension with the their urgent need to implement the RFS-2, which is now almost two years behind schedule. The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) had asked that the comment period not be extended, while the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the House Agriculture Committee had asked for an extension of 120 days.
The corn lobby welcomed the move. RFA’s Bob Dinneen said, “Good sign. More sound science will only help this process. Ethanol’s climate benefit will be validated.”
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, expressed concerns about the extension during his weekly telephone press conference with agricultural reporters. “There’s no doubt that the issue that EPA is dealing with is very complex, so I suppose we ought to have some appreciation for the extra time they’re taking,” Grassley said. “However, the delays threaten the viability of the biodiesel industry which needs the rule to set the level that must be used in 2010 for the RFS. It’s important that the rule gets finished to provide market certainty because biodiesel is not very good shape.” Echoing Grassley’s comments, the National Biodiesel Board says the 60-day extension in the comment delays the new mandate for biodiesel usage from taking effect. “This will provide additional hardship to the U.S. biodiesel industry,” the board said. The mandate was set to start at 500 million gallons this year and rise to a billion gallons by 2012.
The climate bill passed by the House last week would take care of the industry’s problem with the emission rules by exempting existing producers from meeting the targets. The bill’s fate in the Senate, however, is uncertain.
Filed under: Biofuels, Cellulosic, Climate Change, Enviroment, Ethanol, GHG, ILUC, Lobby, RFS | Tagged: Ethanol, UNICA, Sugarcane, ILUC, Renewable Fuels Association, EPA, Biofuels, indirect land use changes, Renewable Fuel Standard
[...] of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS-2) program. The bipartisan group of senators said any delays in the RFS-2 implementation would hurt the biodiesel industry, which currently relies on the [...]