The National Biodiesel Board delivered a letter Oct. 17 to U.S. EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler asking that the agency fully account for small refinery exemptions in the annual Renewable Fuel Standard rules and “end the demand destruction for biodiesel.” The letter also asks EPA to set RFS biomass-based diesel volumes for 2020 at 2.8 billion gallons, consistent with the industry’s demonstrated ability to produce fuel.

In the letter, NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs Kurt Kovarik writes, “EPA must end the demand destruction for biodiesel—not as part of a deal to change the RFS rules; rather, as an integral part of the agency’s duty to ensure that the RFS volumes it sets are met.”

The letter thanks Wheeler for increasing transparency around the agency’s granting of small refinery exemptions. However, the agency’s data dashboard now makes it easy to calculate the biodiesel demand lost to these exemptions, the letter points out.

“Between 2015 and 2017, the demand destruction for biomass-based diesel is more than 300 million gallons,” Kovarik writes in the letter. “Independent analysis further substantiates the demand destruction for biodiesel and renewable diesel,” he adds.

A copy of the letter is available for download.