Washington, DC - The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) today welcomed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) final rule to enable year-round E15 sales and thanked President Trump for following through on his pledge to finalize the rule by June 1.
NBB supports EPA's ongoing efforts to increase transparency in the RIN market and appreciates the agency's commitment to fully vet reforms that could disrupt the RIN market.
Kurt Kovarik, NBB's Vice President of Federal Affairs, stated, "We thank President Trump for following through on his promise to support the biofuel industry.
"The regulatory change to allow year-round E15 sales will open the fuel market to additional ethanol use. However, the action does not expand the market for homegrown biodiesel.
"To expand market access for all renewable fuels, EPA must increase the annual volumes for advanced biofuels, such as biodiesel, and end its practice of granting retroactive small refinery exemptions.
"NBB and its members applaud EPA's efforts to increase transparency in the RIN market. We support the agency's decision to defer final action on other reforms as it evaluates their potentially harmful impact to the biofuel market.
"NBB will continue to press EPA to stop granting retroactive small refinery exemptions without any mechanism to ensure the annual volumes are met.
"Retroactive small refinery exemptions have destroyed demand for more than 360 million gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel over the past year.
"Efforts to expand the renewable fuel market will be ineffective as long as EPA continues to undercut demand through small refinery exemption"s."
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 the nation's first domestically produced, commercially available advanced biofuel.
NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel value chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers, and fuel distributors, as well as the U.S. renewable diesel industry.
For more information, please contact Paul Winters at 202-737-8801 or pwinters@biodiesel.org