Biodiesel Industry Applauds Advanced Biofuel Standard

WASHINGTON - The National Biodiesel Board commended the EPA on Tuesday for maintaining a strong 2013 Advanced Biofuel requirement under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

"With this decision, the EPA is helping consumers, creating jobs and reducing emissions," said Anne Steckel, NBB's vice president of federal affairs. "This target will clearly be met, and it will continue to diversify our fuel supplies so that we're not at the mercy of global oil markets every time we fill up at the pump."

The EPA rule completed Tuesday finalizes an earlier proposal requiring that 2.75 billion gallons of Advanced Biofuel be blended into the U.S. fuel supply this year. Under the RFS, Advanced Biofuels must reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent compared with petroleum fuels.

Biodiesel is the first and only Advanced Biofuel under the program to reach commercial-scale production nationwide, and the first to break 1 billion gallons of annual volume. 

With nearly 1.1 billion gallons of production last year, the biodiesel industry produced enough fuel to fill 87 percent of the total Advanced requirement in 2012. The industry is on pace to fill a majority of the requirement again this year.

"Biodiesel is proving that Advanced Biofuels are working today and that they can reduce prices for consumers," Steckel said. "The RFS is a critical component to that success, and today's rule will help stimulate new technologies and additional growth."

"Today's announcement also demonstrates that the EPA has tremendous flexibility in addressing concerns stemming from the various volume requirements under the RFS, and that it is prepared to use that flexibility in a practical way to ensure that the policy is running smoothly," Steckel added.

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. It is produced at refineries in nearly every state in the country and is supporting some 50,000 jobs nationwide. NBB is the U.S. biodiesel trade association.