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EPA must finalize RVO numbers by Friday

The EPA must finalize 2019 renewable volume obligation (RVO) numbers this week.

Bloomberg reports the annual biofuel targets will be in line with what the EPA released this summer. In June, the EPA proposed a total RVO of 19.88 billion gallons, which includes 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley told reporters that although the EPA will likely maintain the target for conventional ethanol, small refinery exemptions render the volumes meaningless.

“What’s most important isn’t so much the announced levels, it’s what actually ends up being the real levels,” he says. “That means you can’t be handing out small refinery waivers to kids like at the candy store. Doing so makes the top line numbers essentially meaningless.”

The ethanol industry has asked the EPA to reallocate biofuel volumes waived under the exemptions, but the EPA has said it wouldn’t reallocate them in its 2019 mandate.

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to issue final mandates by Nov. 30 for the following year.