On Friday morning, the Alternative Fuels Council is offering an in-depth workshop on the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits and the IRS Biodiesel Tax Credit. The workshop will be offered by renewable fuels experts Jeff Hove and Ginger Laidlaw of NATSO’s Alternative Fuels Council. The workshop will focus on blending and selling renewable fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol… View Full Article
A federal appeals court ruling on Friday, January 24 handed a major victory to biofuels stakeholders, casting doubt on EPA’s legal justification for its recent increase of small refinery exemptions and adding a new wrinkle of uncertainty to an already-volatile Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that EPA has been granting “hardship” exemptions to a larger universe of refineries than Congress intended when it developed the RFS more than a decade ago. The exemptions have resulted in lower prices for the Renewable Identification Number (RIN) trading credits used to demonstrate compliance under the RFS and have diminished demand for renewable fuels in the United States…
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Vehicles and fuel types are evolving and some of those changes will come on rapidly in the new decade. How should retailers incorporate renewable, low carbon fuels into retail sales while still maximizing profit margins and competitive edge?
Renewable fuel has become an integral part of the fuel marketing industry and in order to remain ultra-competitive, fuel wholesalers and retailers must be knowledgeable regarding both federal and state regulations, incentives, supply options and infrastructure. There are several key issues facing those in the fuel industry.
Current federal administration philosophies on deregulation have been taking their toll on the biofuels industry over the past two years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS1- 2007, RFS2-2010-2022+) has effectively been the driving force behind the introduction of alternative fuels that can generate higher fuel margins. RFS corresponding renewable identification numbers still hold important value for blenders but other programs are beginning to overshadow the value of the renewable identification numbers (RINs). Blenders that recognize state incentives and growing interests in state low-carbon fuel standards (LCFS) will position themselves well for future fuel marketing models…
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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Grand Island’s Bosselman Enterprises was recognized Tuesday during President Trump’s visit to a Council Bluffs ethanol plant, where he announced the year-round sale of E15 fuel.
Trump made his announcement at the Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy ethanol plant, or SIRE, which produces about 110 million gallons of ethanol each year.
As part of the president’s address, Randy Gard, Bosselman chief operating officer, addressed the audience to talk about the company’s more than three decades of leadership in the Nebraska ethanol industry. Gard is also a member of the Nebraska Ethanol Board.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued a Final RIN Market Reform rule that authorizes the sale of E-15 year-round throughout the United States and enhances disclosure requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard.
The Final Rule appears to have adopted a number of suggestions made by NATSO in comments filed with the agency as part of the rulemaking process. NATSO filed its comments in conjunction with the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers (SIGMA).
NATSO continues to analyze the Final Rule and will have a more detailed analysis in the coming days. The Final Rule appears to have refrained from adopting proposed regulatory changes that would have dissuaded and prevented fuel marketers from buying, selling, and blending renewable fuels under the RFS.
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California is well known for its leadership in protecting the environment and the state’s status as a trailblazer has stimulated both innovation and imitation. California was one of the first states to develop a comprehensive air quality improvement plan, establish a state agency dedicated to promoting energy conservation, and the first state to create a commission whose sole purpose is to protect the coast from overdevelopment.
It comes as no surprise then that California also leads in the development and implementation of policies to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other states have since followed. Greenhouse gases are the compounds that trap heat in the atmosphere, causing a steady increase in the temperature of the planet and a shift in climate patterns that have been the norm since the last ice age.
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NATSO along with the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America (SIGMA) filed public comments on a proposed regulation that would impose significant reforms on the market for Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) that would be detrimental to many NATSO members. The proposal is part of a proposed rule that would allow gasoline with 15 percent ethanol to be sold year-round throughout the country.
In the comments, the trade associations, which represent 90 percent of the retail sales of motor fuels, urged EPA to finalize only those aspects of its proposed RIN Market Reform Rule that enhance disclosure requirements and set aside for future reconsideration those aspects that would modify market behavior. RINs are the credits that EPA uses to ensure that refiners satisfy their obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NATSO, the national association for truck stops and travel plazas, along with other organizations representing the biodiesel supply chain, have praised a bipartisan group of lawmakers for introducing legislation to extend the biodiesel tax credit.
“This legislation underscores the fact that the biodiesel tax credit has strong Democratic support in the House of Representatives,” said David Fialkov, vice president of government affairs, NATSO. “The authors of this legislation understand that the biodiesel tax credit helps create jobs, reduces the transportation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions and enables fuel retailers to offer more competitively priced diesel fuel, which in turn lowers the price of all consumer goods that are moved by truck. The biodiesel tax credit has bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. It’s time to get this done.”
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Jeff Hove: Since the inception of the U.S. EPA Renewable Fuels Standard (2007), the downstream petroleum industry has been taking great risks to fulfill the intent of Congress. Blending renewable fuels is expensive and requires new equipment, new suppliers, complex RIN credit tracking, and new risks associated with marketing new products. The otherwise successful RFS was first undermined by criminal forces generating fraudulent RIN credits which almost brought the RFS to it knees. Now the primary force undermining the RFS is the EPA itself. The issuance of small refinery exemptions, often to the largest, most profitable refining companies in the country, behind closed doors, has dramatically undermined demand for biodiesel. The manner in which EPA issued these waivers under former Administrator Pruitt was nothing short of government-sanctioned market manipulation. I am hopeful that the Agency will change course under Administrator Wheeler.
Article Excerpt:The market impact of small refinery exemptions (SREs) granted under the RFS remains a highly contentious issue. From a regulatory standpoint, there is no doubt that SREs opened a backdoor mechanism for the EPA to reduce the statutorily-mandated RFS volumes (farmdoc daily, July 12, 2018). However, there is sharp disagreement about the impact of SREs on the physical consumption of biofuels, particularly for ethanol. The ethanol industry has argued vociferously that there has been substantial destruction of demand in the physical ethanol market due to the SREs. However, a series of farmdoc daily articles in recent months showed that the physical use of ethanol declined little if any due to SREs (September 13, 2018; December 13, 2018; January 16, 2019).
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