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Renewable fuels leader looks beyond the RFS

A renewable fuels leader says the ethanol industry needs to look beyond the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

“The uncertainty of this whole Renewable Fuel Standard after 2022 raises a lot of questions,” says Doug Durante, executive director of the Clean Fuels Development Coalition. “As we’ve preached for a long time, let’s try to plan out a pathway that looks at a world without the Renewable Fuel Standard.”

Durante says two main themes came out a recent ethanol forum in Omaha.

“One is that octane and high-octane fuels, as a means of meeting new mileage standards and as a means of reducing carbon, are going to be very much in demand—and ethanol is a terrific candidate for that,” he says.

The other key message, he says, is how greater ethanol use will help reduce the negative health impacts caused by toxic compounds in gasoline.

“So I think both from health standpoint and from a mileage and efficiency standpoint, those are value propositions that should survive well without any government requirements,” Durante says. “So that’s what we’re focusing on, is sort of life beyond the RFS and making sure that we’re not overly dependent on a government program.”

Congressionally-mandated volume levels for renewable fuels in the RFS end in 2022. After that, the EPA will have much more discretion in setting year-by-year volumes.

AUDIO: Doug Durante