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Renewable Fuels Standard due June 1
The Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to finally deliver a Renewable Fuels Standard by June 1st. They are to announce the proposed standards for 2014, 2015 and 2016. Renewable Fuels Association senior vice president Geoff Cooper says EPA and the White House have been very quiet on this so they have no idea what the numbers will be.
He says while the volume numbers are important, how EPA justifies them is just as important. Last year the oil industry pushed the idea of using the “blend wall” as the basis saying they couldn’t use more than ten percent in the fuel supply so that is where the RFS should be for 2014. Cooper says the renewable fuels industry pushed back on that one because the number would end-up being less than what Congress intended when they created the standard. Ultimately EPA pulled that proposal back and has reworked the numbers.
Cooper says ethanol is still 40 cents less than gasoline at the wholesale level and as oil prices rise the advantage to the consumer will increase as well.
The proposal is to be delivered on June 1st, there will be a public comment period with the final standards to be published by November 30th.
Cooper talks about the RFS:
The RFS is one of the best economic programs for rural America and helps us our reliance on foreign and fossil fuels.