The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extending the comment period by 60 days on its proposed rule revising the national Renewable Fuel Standard program, commonly referred to as RFS2.
The original comment period was to end on July 27, 2009 and will now end on September 25, 2009.
The proposed rule would dramatically increase the volume requirements
for renewable fuels, establish four categories of renewable fuels, and
require some renewable fuels to achieve greenhouse gas emission
reductions compared to the gasoline and diesel fuels they displace.
These revisions were mandated by the Energy Independence and Security
Act of 2007. But EPA’s proposed rule, has drawn opposition from the
ethanol industry, which says the rule for measuring lifecycle carbon
dioxide emissions is unfair, because it accounts for land use changes
in other parts of the world.
The EPA’s argument is that as more U.S. crop land is devoted to
ethanol feedstocks, other forested regions will be transitioned to
farmland, causing carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphered
from felled trees.
U.S. farmers won a concession last week, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
Democrats representing farming regions refused to vote for the bill
until it included a provision postponing the EPA rule for five years
and giving Congress the power to blcok the rule at a later date.
The current renewable standard required 9 billion gallons of renewable
fuels such as ethanol to be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply
last year. That level rises annually until 2022, when it calls for 36
billion gallons.
"With the 60-day comment period extension, EPA seeks to provide
the public adequate time to provide meaningful comment while finalizing
and implementing the standards in a timely manner," the EPA said.
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