Cellulosic Waiver Credit
Price Calculation for 2019


United States
Environmental Protection
tl	Agency

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Cellulosic Waiver Credit
Price Calculation for 2019
Assessment and Standards Division
Office of Transportation and Air Quality
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
United States
Environmental Protection
tl	Agency
EPA-420-B-18-052
December 2018

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Cellulosic Waiver Credit Price Calculation for 2019
For any calendar year for which the projected volume of cellulosic biofuel production is
less than the applicable volume of cellulosic biofuel set forth in Clean Air Act (CAA) section
21 l(o)(2)(B)(III), EPA must reduce the required volume of cellulosic biofuel for that year to the
projected volume, and must provide obligated parties the opportunity to purchase cellulosic
waiver credits (CWC). The price of these credits is determined using a formula specified in the
CAA.1 The cellulosic waiver credit price is the greater of $0.25 or $3.00 minus the wholesale
price of gasoline, where both the $0.25 and $3.00 are adjusted for inflation. In a rule published in
April 2015,2 EPA stated our intention to announce future CWC prices by posting a notice on our
"Renewable Fuels: Regulations & Standards" website. This document serves the required notice
that the Cellulosic Waiver Credit price for 2019 is $1.77.
To determine the CWC price, EPA first determines the average wholesale (refinery gate)
price of gasoline using the most recent twelve monthly values for U.S. Total Gasoline Bulk Sales
(Price) by Refiners as provided by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that are
available as of September 30 of the year preceding the compliance period.3 For 2019, the most
recent 12 months for which data were available as of September 30, 2018 covers July 2017
through June 2018. The data can be found at:
(https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EMA EPM.0 PBR NUS PPG
&f=MQ and are summarized below in Table 1.
Table 1 - Wholesale Gasoline Prices for 2019 CWC Calculation
Month
Average Price in $
July 2017
1.544
August 2017
1.633
September 2017
1.737
October 2017
1.681
November 2017
1.778
December 2017
1.724
January 2018
1.824
February 2018
1.851
March 2018
1.821
April 2018
1.969
May 2018
2.108
June 2018
2.083
The average of the monthly average wholesale gasoline prices in dollars is $1,813.
The CAA requires that EPA adjust for inflation the comparison values of twenty-five
cents ($0.25) and three dollars ($3.00) in the CWC price formula. EPA must compare the
1	CAA 21 l(o)(7)(D)(ii)
2	80 FR 18136
3	40 CFR 80.1456(d)(2)

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inflated twenty-five cent value with the amount the inflated three dollar value exceeds the
average wholesale price of gasoline. EPA is required to use the greater of the two values as the
price for the cellulosic biofuel waiver credits.
EPA evaluated inflation by using the Unadjusted Index values from the Consumer Price
Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): U.S. City Average, for the All Items expenditure
category as provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, for the months of January 2009 (the
first comparable value after 2008) and June 2018, as specified in 40 CFR 80.1456(d)(3). These
unadjusted indexes are used to calculate an Inflation Factor for each year, as shown in Table 2
below. Finally, we compare $0.25 (inflation adjusted) to $3.00 (inflation adjusted) minus the
average wholesale price of gasoline during the most recent twelve months for which available as
of September 30 of the year preceding the compliance period (July 2017 - June 2018 for the
2019 CWC price). The greater of these values is the price for the cellulosic waiver credits.
Table 2 - Inflation Adjustments
Month
Unadjusted
Index4
January 2009
211.143
June 2018
251.989
Table 3 - Inflation Factors
Months
Equation
Inflation Factor
Jan. 2009 - June 2018
1+(251.989-211.143)/211.143
1.193
Table 4 - Cellulosic Waiver Credit Price Calculations
Year
$0.25 (Inflation
Adjusted)
$3 (Inflation Adjusted) Minus
Wholesale Price of Gasoline
CWC Price (Larger of
the two values, rounded
to the nearest cent)
2019
$0.25*1.193=$0.30
($3.00* 1.193)-$ 1.813=$ 1.768
$1.77
As shown in Table 4, using the data sources for the inflation adjustment that are specified in this
announcement results in a CWC price of $1.77 for 2019.
4 Information available at: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/data.htm

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