Growth Energy notified the Environmental Protection Agency that it intends to sue the agency regarding its failure to timely fulfill its statutory obligation under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to issue the 2022 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) and in turn, the potentially multi-year “set” rulemaking process for renewable fuel volumes for 2023 and beyond.
“With surging fuel costs and rising emissions, we cannot afford to hold back lower-cost, lower carbon biofuels with needless regulatory uncertainty,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “It is critical for EPA to issue these RVOs as soon as possible and map out the RFS ‘set’ for 2023 and beyond. EPA would be missing a critical opportunity to address our climate challenge, provide consumers with continued lower-carbon choices at the pump, and contribute to the rural recovery.”
The RVOs for 2022 are due by November 30th, 2021, an annual deadline set by Congress in the RFS. As of Tuesday, 28 days before that statutory deadline, EPA had not issued rulemaking to establish those obligations. A proposed rule is currently under interagency review at the White House office of Management and Budget.
“We just want action,” Skor told reporters Tuesday. “We as an industry don’t want to have to tie up our time and our resources to do something like this. But we feel it’s incumbent upon us.”
Additionally, the final “set” rulemaking was due on November 1, 2021, and EPA has not issued a notice of proposed rulemaking for that, either. Today’s notice gives EPA 60 days to issue the 2022 RVO and the set rulemakings before risking a lawsuit in federal court.
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