EPA announces 2009 RFS changes

Ethanol Producer Magazine
December 2008
By Ron Kotrba
Web exclusive posted Nov. 24, 2008 at 11:57 a.m. CST

The U.S. EPA has announced that the 2009 renewable fuels standard (RFS) blending requirement will be set at 10.21 percent to ensure that at least 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuels are blended into transportation gasoline. The percentage is calculated using projected total gasoline consumption and multiple variables, such as subtracting projected production from exempt small refiners, but excluding Alaska’s projected gas consumption. Hawaii’s projected gas consumption is included because the state has chosen to opt into the RFS program; Alaska has not.

The announcement comes in the interim period between RFS1, enacted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and the proposed rulemaking for RFS2, which was signed into law in December 2007 as part of the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007. Under RFS1, the 2009 volume of renewable fuels required would have been only 6.1 billion gallons instead of 11.1 billion gallons.

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