EPA Finalizes 2011 Renewable Fuel
Standards
Under the Clean Air Act Section 21 l(o), as amended by the
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set renewable
fuel standards each November for the following year based on gasoline
and diesel projections from the Energy Information Administration
(ElA). EPA is also required to set the cellulosic biofuel standard
each year based on the volume projected to be available during the
following year, using EIA projections and assessments of production
capability from industry. This regulatory action finalizes these annual
standards for cellulosic, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and
total renewable fuels that apply to all gasoline and diesel produced or
imported in year 2011.
The final rule also presents two changes to the RFS2 regulations.
The first modifies the provision for "delayed RINs" to make it more
broadly applicable to any biofuel production pathway so long as the
biofuel was in commercial production on July 1, 2010, EPA receives
a petition pursuant to Section 80.1416 of Title 40 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) by January 31, 2011, and EPA determines
that the fuel pathway provides appropriate greenhouse gas reductions
as required by EISA. The second regulatory provision being finalized
in this rulemaking establishes criteria for EPA to use in determining
whether to approve petitions for foreign-grown feedstocks so that they
may use an aggregate approach to comply with the renewable biomass
verification provisions, akin to that applicable to producers using
crops and crop residue grown in the United States.
SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
EPA-420-F-10-056
November 2010
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Finally, the final rule presents two administrative announcements. First, EPA
is announcing the price for cellulosic biofuel waiver credits. Second, EPA is
announcing the results of its annual assessment of the aggregate compliance
approach for U.S. crops and crop residue.
General Background
EPA is required to determine and publish the applicable annual renewable fuel percentage
standards for each compliance year by November 30 of the previous year. Determining the
applicable standards under RFS2 requires EPA to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the volume
of qualifying cellulosic biofuel that can be made available the following year. If the projected
available volume of cellulosic biofuel is less than the required volume specified in the statute,
EPA must lower the required volume used to set the annual cellulosic biofuel percentage stan-
dard to the projected available volume. EPA must also determine whether the advanced biofuel
and/or total renewable fuel volumes should be reduced by the same or a lesser amount. The final
rule provides EPA's evaluation of the projected production of cellulosic biofuel for 2011, and the
final percentage standards for compliance year 2011,
Final Percentage Standards for 2011
To calculate the percentage standard for cellulosic biofuel for 2011, EPA used a volume of 6.0
million ethanol-equivalent gallons (representing 6.6 million physical gallons).1 EPA is also
requiring that the applicable volumes for biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total
renewable fuel for 2011 will be those specified in the statute. These volumes are shown in Table 1,
Final Volumes for 2011
Cellulosic biofuel
Biomass-based diesel
Advanced biofuel
Renewable fuel
Actual Volume
6.6 mill gal
0.80 bill gal
1.35 bill gal
13. 95 bill gal
Ethanol Equivalent Volume
6.0 mill gal
1.20 bill gal
1.35 bill gal
13. 95 bill gal
The volumes in Table 1 are the minimum that must be consumed in the U.S. Insofar as excess
volumes of cellulosic biofuel or biomass-based diesel are consumed, they will count towards the
advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel volume requirements.
1 Percentage standards are based on ethanol-equivalent volumes, not actual volumes. The ethanol-equivalent
volume is determined from the volumetric energy content of a biofuel in comparison to the volumetric energy
content of denatured ethanol. Insofar as actual volumes used to meet the standards are comprised of fuels other
than ethanol, the actual volume and ethanol-equivalent volume will differ.
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Four separate standards are required under the RFS2 program, corresponding to the four separate
volume requirements shown in Table 2. The percentage standards represent the ratio of renew-
able fuel volume to non-renewable gasoline and diesel volume. Thus, in 2011 about 8% of all
fuel used will be from renewable sources. The proposed standards for 2011 are shown in Table 2,
Final Percentage Standards for 2011
Cellulosic biofuel
Biomass-based diesel
Advanced biofuel
Renewable fuel
0.003%
0.69%
0.78%
8.01%
For More Information
For more information on this proposal, please visit the RFS website at:
www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels
To submit a question on the RFS program, and to view Frequently Asked Questions, please visit:
www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/compliancehelp/index.htm
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