The Environmental Protection Agency increased how much ethanol must be blended into the country’s gas supply on June 3.
The EPA announced changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard program, which included setting new targets for renewable fuel use in gasoline production.
Refiners in the United States must blend 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol into gasoline in 2022, a record-high target.
The EPA also retroactively adjusted the mandated requirements for 2020 and 2021, matching them to what was actually blended in those years.
EPA administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement, “Today’s actions will help to reduce our reliance on oil and put the RFS program back on track after years of challenges and mismanagement. We remain committed to working with all RFS stakeholders to build on today’s actions and deliver certainty and stability in the RFS program.”
The move elicited support from corn and ethanol interests.
Joe Kakesh, general counsel to renewable fuels lobbying group Growth Energy, told The Washington Examiner, “We take this as EPA’s position that biofuels continue to play a critical role in mitigating climate change and, most importantly, today in lowering prices at the pump for drivers across America.”
Not everyone agrees with this assessment.
Chet Thompson, president and CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a lobbying organization for refineries, stated that the 2022 target “is bewildering and contrary to the [Biden] administration’s claims to be doing everything in their power to provide relief to consumers.”
Thompson also said the new target could add as much as 30 cents to a gallon of gasoline.
He continued, “Unachievable mandates will needlessly raise fuel production costs and further threaten the viability of US small refineries, both at the expense of consumers.”
The EPA took further action by denying 69 petitions from small refineries seeking exemptions from the Renewable Fuel Standard blending requirements.