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RFA’s Dinneen downplays reports of RFS reductions
The head of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is downplaying reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a significant reduction in the volume of ethanol that must be blended into gasoline under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).
Bob Dinneen says those rumors are based on a leaked draft document from EPA which reportedly reduces the 2014 corn ethanol requirement under the RFS to 13 billion gallons. That’s about 800 million gallons less than this year’s 13.8 billion.
But Dinneen emphasizes the report is preliminary and has not yet been subjected to interagency review.
“Somebody, durin the interagency review process is going to take a look at the (RFS) statute and say, ‘oh, we can’t reduce the volumes in the fashion that’s being discussed because it would be illegal,” Dinneen says.
Legally, the agency can’t reduce the renewable volume obligations (RVO) in the RFS, Dinneen says, without initiating a formal RFS waiver proceeding and determining that the so-called “E10 blend wall” is causing severe harm to the economy or the environment.
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