EPA denies AFPM’s petition to waive 2011 cellulosic biofuel mandate

On May 22, 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied the joint petition of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and Western States Petroleum Association requesting that the Agency waive the 2011 cellulosic biofuel volume mandate in its entirety due to the non-existent domestic supply of the fuel. The EPA denied the petition despite the fact that the agency’s own monthly summary record of available volumes of cellulosic biofuels shows that the United States did not produce cellulosic biofuels in 2011. “EPA’s decision is arbitrary and capricious. We fail to understand how EPA can maintain a requirement to purchase a type of fuel that simply doesn’t exist. Congress created a waiver provision in the RFS to address this exact situation,” said AFPM President Charles T. Drevna. “If EPA isn’t going to grant a waiver based on the agency’s own data that shows the fuel is not available, when does the agency think it is appropriate to exercise its waiver authority? Today’s ruling simply upholds EPA’s imposition of a backdoor gasoline tax on American consumers,” he added. In 2011, refiners were required to use 6 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels. But even as no cellulosic biofuels were produced, refiners were forced to pay EPA US$6.8 million for waiver credits which were needed to comply with the mandate. (May 25, 2012)