Bipartisan House Response to Recent EPA Rulings

The Environmental Protection Agency accomplished something that has not been seen in a long time: Democrats and Republicans agreement that recent rulings on the Renewable Fuel Standard and Heavy-Duty Vehicles were unrealistic.

On July 10, a bipartisan group of 37 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish strong Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volumes for 2026. The letter, which was supported by NEFI, calls on the agency to fully account for the availability and production capacity of biomass-based diesel (i.e., biodiesel and renewable diesel) and advanced biofuels when setting these volumes.

The signatories expressed concern that the EPA’s failure to set adequate volumes for 2024 and 2025 has led to uncertainty in the values of RFS credits, known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), which is keeping the renewable fuels market from reaching its full potential. While the EPA is legally required to finalize 2026 volumes before November 1, 2024, the administration’s Unified Regulatory Agenda suggests a proposed rule may be delayed until March 2025, with a final rule not expected until December 2025.

According to the letter, “The RFS volumes your agency set last June for 2023-2025 are the highest in history, but it is increasingly apparent that they should have been set significantly higher across the board to reflect our country’s increased production capacity for biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuels. As the Energy Information Administration noted last fall, ‘the RVOs for biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuel were set significantly lower than production trends.’ This triggered a collapse in the value of RFS credits, or Renewable Identification Numbers, that continues to stifle the growth of critical renewable fuels markets today.”

About a week earlier, on July 2, 150 Representatives, again from both sides of the aisle, signed their names to a letter to the EPA requesting that they “withdraw the final rule entitled ‘Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3’ that was published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.”

The letter discusses a ripple effect that the ruling could have on everyone, from farmers and businesses to the trucking industry and American families. It is estimated that the costs necessary to achieve the new emissions ruling would require nearly $1 trillion in infrastructure investment, and that does not include the purchase of new electric trucks.

The ruling would hit an already vulnerable agriculture industry hard. The letter states, “According to the latest agriculture census by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are 3,161,820 trucks (including pickups) on over 1.4 million farms and 3,784,743 tractors on over 1.5 million farms that would see higher equipment costs and tighter margins due to this misguided rule.”

“This de facto mandate does not consider the realities of the commercial zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) marketplace or consider the ability for small businesses in rural America to purchase and operate these vehicles. Trucks must be affordable and reliable otherwise the intended benefits will not be realized. This rule will harm our families and businesses, increases our gas prices, and makes us more dependent on foreign supply chains – particularly China.”

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