Initial Reaction:
What’s the latest on the
future of RFS and RVP?
Q: There seems to be confusion
in the media and marketplace
regarding what will happen with
the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)
in 2022. Where is this confusion
originating?
A: Last May, a specific oil company was telling
Capitol Hill lawmakers there was too much
uncertainty in the policy, and they should be
concerned about post-2022—ethanol production
could disappear. This is simply a scare tactic,
attempting to force negotiations to reform the
RFS now.
Q: What is really going to happen with
the RFS in 2022?
A: When Congress passed the RFS in 2007, it laid
out a series of annual production targets for
various biofuels. Those annual targets extend
only through 2022, but that does not mean
According to the
EPA, by 2022 the
Renewable Fuel Standard
will reduce carbon
pollution by
138 metric tons.
the RFS expires. Instead,
the responsibility
for maintaining
the RFS and setting
production targets passes
from Congress to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Q: What criteria will the EPA use to set
those targets?
A: There are six basic criteria the EPA must
consider, by law: 1) environmental impact, 2)
energy security, 3) anticipated renewable fuel
production levels, 4) fueling infrastructure
capacity, 5) cost of fuel, and 6) rural economic
development.
Q: Is it likely the RFS will cease to exist
in 2022?
A: Believing that the EPA will dramatically cut or
eliminate the conventional portion of the RFS
ignores political and economic reality. When you
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Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor; Brooke Coleman, Advanced
Biofuels Business Council (ABBC); and Mike Lorenz, Sheetz,
at the legislative hearing on S. 517, the Consumer and Fuel
Retailer Choice Act.
SUMMER 2017
21