Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent its final renewable volume obligations (RVOs) to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, according to a notice on OMB’s website.  This is the next step in finalizing the 2018 renewable volumes.

By statue, under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), EPA must finalize the 2018 RVOs by November 30.  EPA, in public statements, has repeated its commitment to meeting this deadline.  In early July, EPA released its draft proposal which included a total renewable fuel volumes of 19.24 billion gallons for 2018, slightly lower than the 2017 volumes of 19.28 billion gallons.  The original proposal kept the conventional target at the 2017 level of 15 billion gallons and reduced the advanced biofuel target. 

However, in late September, EPA announced that it would seek further public comments on potential reductions to the 2018 RFS volumes for biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuels. This surprising action received strong backlash from Midwest Senators who oppose reducing these volumes.  In response to Midwest Senators efforts to stop these reductions, Senators supporting the oil and gas industry pushed back by placing a hold on a key executive branch nominee.

NACS supported the original EPA proposal, but shared strong concerns in September about further reductions in the biomass-based diesel volumes.  NACS will be meeting with OMB to share the fuel retailing perspective.