A ruling from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. Friday favors more biofuel production, as it redefined three words in the Renewable Fuel Standard.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. undertook a case to define the meaning of three words in the Renewable Fuel Standard, written by the United States Congress. The three words are “inadequate domestic supply”. University of Illinois Agricultural Economist Scott Irwin said through them, Congress granted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the right to grant a waiver, allowing energy producers not to follow the law.
?Which common sense would say, ?Yeah, you would need that kind of escape clause in the statute, that if a biofuel is not being produced, you cannot require someone to consume it,?? Irwin said.
The Obama Administration’s EPA interpreted the clause to also mean inadequate domestic demand, and consequently limited the mandated use of biofuels in the United States. The court ruled on how the EPA limited biofuels in 2016, however, it may be, thinks Irwin, that EPA will need to make good actions it took in 2014, 2015 and 2016. This may mean the gallons of biofuels not mandated for use in those three years will have to be produced and used.
?In the three years, they added up to 2.24 billion gallons of ethanol equivalence was at play in those cuts that have now have been basically declared illegal,? Irwin said.
It would take about 800 million bushels of corn to make that much ethanol. However, because there are two parts to the RFS relating to ethanol, it’s not likely corn-based ethanol will be the big winner when it comes to making up the lost gallons.
?Its been filling the gaps above the E10 blend wall in the ethanol mandate for a number of years. I don?t see why that would change dramatically with this rule making,? Irwin said.
The back fill will require about 1.5 billion gallons of biodiesel. It would use about 11 billion pounds of feed stock. The number one feed stock is soybean oil.
