LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has until next week to release a proposed rulemaking for 2026 Renewable Fuel Standard volumes or face more litigation from at least one national ethanol interest group.
DTN reported in April 2024 that the White House's unified agenda pushed an already-late 2026 RFS proposal back to a March 2025 release.
Not only is a proposal yet to be released, but by statute EPA is required to finalize volumes by Nov. 1, 2024. That unified agenda, however, indicated December 2025 as a finalization date.
On July 31, 2024, Growth Energy filed a notice of intent to sue for what the group said was a "failure" to issue RFS volumes.
"Growth Energy requests that EPA commit to promulgating the final volumes requirements by the statutory deadline," the group said in a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
"Correspondingly, Growth Energy urges EPA to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking for the 2026 RFS no later than Sept. 2, 2024. That would allow the bare minimum amount of 30 days for public comment and the bare minimum amount of 30 days for agency review before issuing the final rule."
Growth Energy said without those actions the group intends to sue for an order "compelling EPA to perform its mandatory, non-discretionary duty promptly" sometime after Sept. 29.
"EPA's decision not to timely perform its mandatory, non-discretionary duty to issue the 2026 volume requirements violates the Clean Air Act," Growth Energy said in the letter.
"It also undermines Congress's directive that the RFS program 'force the market to create ways to produce and use greater and greater volumes of renewable fuel each year' and deprives market participants of the 'market certainty' that is 'so critical to the long-term success of the Renewable Fuel Program.'"
Under the new set rule finalized in June 2024, the agency set RFS volumes through 2025. The multiyear rule was said at the time to have provided a bit of market certainty to the biofuels industry.
The RFS statute requires EPA to promulgate rules to establish volumes no later than 14 months before the first year that volumes would apply.
The agency has delayed RFS volumes repeatedly since the passage of the law in 2005.
In August 2021, the agency sent proposed volumes to the Office of Management and Budget that included setting volumes for 2020 to 2022.
The Trump administration in 2020 passed on setting volumes for 2021, and then the Biden administration did the same in 2021.
Under the Obama administration, the EPA missed RFS deadlines on several occasions.
Read more on DTN:
"EPA May Miss 2026 RFS Volumes Deadline," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
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