API files lawsuit against EPA for “unachievable” cellulosic biofuel requirements

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2012 - The American Petroleum Institute (API) filed a lawsuit with the D.C. Circuit Court challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) unachievable requirements for use of cellulosic biofuels in the 2012 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS):

“EPA’s standard is divorced from reality and forces refiners to purchase credits for cellulosic fuels that do not exist,” said API Director of Downstream and Industry Operations Bob Greco. “EPA’s unrealistic mandate is effectively a tax on manufacturers of gasoline that could ultimately burden consumers.”

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to determine the mandated volume of cellulosic biofuels each year at “the projected volume available.” EPA’s 2012 rule requires that refiners and importers of gasoline and diesel must use 8.65 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels despite a complete lack of commercial supply of the fuel.

“EPA must set the requirement at a realistic volume but they have not,” Greco said. “This is regulatory absurdity.”

API supports a realistic and workable RFS and continues to recommend that EPA base their prediction on at least two months of actual cellulosic biofuel production in the current year when establishing the mandated volumes for the following year. This approach would provide a more realistic assessment of potential future production rather than simply relying on the assertions of companies whose ability to produce the cellulosic biofuel volumes EPA hopes for is questionable.

API represents more than 500 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America's energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers more than $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested more than $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.