NPRA voices concern over court decision on EPA RFS rule

Charles T. Drevna, president of NPRA, the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, has expressed disappointment and concern over the decision of an appeals court to uphold the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent changes to the federal Renewable Fuels Standard program (RFS2).

At issue in the petition before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was the establishment of certain retroactive renewable fuel volume requirements under EPA’s final RFS2 rule, as well as EPA’s compliance with deadlines established by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007).

EISA 2007 required EPA to finalise regulations implementing changes to the Renewable Fuels Standard program by 19 December 2008. The law also requires EPA to set volume requirements for the use of specific categories of renewable fuels for each year by 30 November of the previous year. EPA, however, did not issue the final RFS2 rule or the volume obligations for 2010 until March 26 of this year.

‘In its March 2010 rulemaking to modify the Renewable Fuels Standard, EPA chose to ignore its own failure to meet statutory deadlines by imposing retroactive requirements on American fuel manufacturers,’ Drevna said. ‘The legal petition before the court did not seek to challenge or call into question the important role biofuels play in our nation’s transportation fuel supply. Rather, the issue is one of fundamental fairness in EPA’s rulemaking process.

‘This retroactive regulation by a federal agency establishes a deeply troubling and potentially far reaching precedent,’ Drevna continued. ‘We’re disappointed that the court did not overturn what is clearly a flawed and misguided approach toward implementation of the federal Renewable Fuels Standard. Regardless of the court’s ruling, however, NPRA and its members remain committed to working towards the overall implementation of the RFS program.’

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/23122010/npra_voices_concern_over_court_decision_on_epa_rfs_rule/