A bipartisan, bicameral contingent of 47 members of Congress has petitioned the EPA to finalize its proposal for the Renewable Fuel Standard program, which includes measures to discourage the use of foreign imports in the U.S. biofuel market.
The group, led by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last week to advocate for the proposal, saying it “represents a commonsense approach that puts American farmers first, strengthens domestic biofuel markets, and delivers tangible economic benefits to rural communities.”
In June, the EPA proposed changes to the RFS program to increase the Renewable Fuel Obligation (RVO), reduce the value of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) for foreign-produced fuels and biofuel components and reallocate unmet regulatory costs from exempted small refineries to larger ones. An RVO is the minimum volume of renewable fuel required to be mixed into the U.S. fuel supply. RINs function as a sort of currency in the biofuels industry.
