US boosts biofuel mandates over next 3 years, but biofuel groups feel shortchanged

The Biden administration on Wednesday increased the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the nation's fuel mix over the next three years, but the plan has angered the biofuel industry, which says mandates for corn-based ethanol and biodiesel are not high enough. The US Environmental Protection Agency has finalized biofuel blending volumes at 20.94b gallons in 2023, 21.54b gallons in 2024 and 22.33b gallons in 2025. That compares with the initial proposal announced in December of 20.82b in 2023, 21.87b in 2024, and 22.68b in 2025. But the finalized volumes include just 15b gallons of conventional biofuels like corn-based ethanol in all three years, plus a 250m-gallon supplemental amount for 2023. That represents a decline from the initial proposal, which included 15b gallons of conventional biofuels in 2023 and 15.25b gallons in both 2024 and 2025. The plan also has modest increases to biomass-based diesel volumes compared with the proposal, despite a major lobbying push from groups that produce biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel to boost volumes higher. The announcement drew strong rebukes from ethanol and biodiesel advocates. "The industry responded to signals from the Biden administration and Congress aiming to rapidly decarbonize U.S. fuel markets, particularly aviation, marine, and heavy-duty transport, and make clean fuels available to more consumers," said Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs with Clean Fuels, a biodiesel group. "The volumes EPA finalized today are not high enough to support those goals."<br/>