The Renewable Fuel Program at an Inflection Point: Policy Implications of EPA's Proposed 2014-2016 Renewable Fuel Standard
| Date | 01 July 2015 |
| Author |
45 ELR 10674 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 7-2015
A R T I C L E S
The Renewable
Fuel Program at
an Inflection
Point: Policy
Implications of
EPA’s Proposed
2014-2016
Renewable Fuel
Standard
by Michael N. Romita
Michael N. Romita is a Partner at Mercury Strategies, LLC.
In May 2015, EPA released its delayed revisions to the
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2014 and beyond.
is standard establishes volumetric requirements
for total renewable fuels and several subcategories
of advanced biofuels. With the current rulemaking,
EPA is attempting to revise its standard-setting pro-
cess as the practical realities of the transportation fuel
market have caught up with many of the program’s
more ambitious policy aspirations. Regardless of how
the rulemaking plays out, policymakers will need to
decide whether EPA is best positioned to take the lead
in reinterpreting those aspirations, or whether Con-
gress should step back in.
I. Introduction
Ten years ago, the U.S. Congress launched an ambitious
eort to transform the way we think about tra nsporta-
tion fuel. e 2005 Amendments to the Clean Air Act
(CAA), passed as part of the Energy Policy Act (EPAct)
of 2005,1 created the Renewable Fuel Program and rein-
vented the domestic market for transportation fuel: how
it is composed, supplied, traded, and consumed. e goals
were transcendent. By requiring the United States to dis-
place traditional fossil fuels with continuously expanding
amounts of renewable fuels to power cars, trucks, and
other vehicles, the Renewable Fuel Program would create a
market for the domestic production of these fuels, bolster
rural economies, ght climate change, and put the country
on a sustainable path toward energy independence.
Congress tasked the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) with setting up the rules and administering
the program, a nd EPA has made substantial progress on
many of these original policy goals. Over the past 10 years,
renewable fuel production under the program has tripled
and now represents close to 10% of the national transpor-
tation fuel market.2 ese fuels are now an integral part of
the domestic energy slate.
Notwithstanding this progress, the past decade has wit-
nessed a dramatic shif t in the domestic energy economy.
Many of the economic assumptions a nd energy forecasts
that underpin the program’s policy goals have turned out
to be inaccurate. As a result, EPA now nds itself strug-
gling to keep pace with its statutory responsibility to ensure
that the country continues to consume increasing amounts
of renewable transportation fuel every year, irrespective of
market forces. e Renewable Fuel Program has reached a
turning point.
EPA is currently in the midst of a rulemaking to pro-
mulgate a fresh set of renewable fuel standards under
the program for the years 2014 and beyond. EPA t herein
attempts to revise its standard-setting process and place it
on a path more adaptable to shifting market conditions.
e rulemak ing serves to answer those who advocate
reforming or repealing the entire program. However, it is
unclear whether the Agency’s recalibrated approach will
1. Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct), Pub. L. No. 109-58, §1501, 119
Stat. 594 (2005). e Renewable Fuel Program is codied at 42 U.S.C.
§7545(o), as amended. e Clean Air Act (CAA) is codied at 42 U.S.C.
§§7401-7671q, ELR S. CAA §§101-618.
2. EPA reports an increase in production of renewable fuels for program com-
pliance from 5.2 billion gallons in 2006 to almost 16 billion gallons in
2014. Compare RFS1 Final Rule, note 3, at 23951, with Updated Pro-
posed RFS 2014 Standard, note 59, at 15.
Copyright © 2015 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.
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