Summary	of	Interagency	Working	Comments	on	Draft	Language	under	

EO13563	Interagency	Review.		Subject	to	Further	Policy	Review.

Comments on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule titled, “Regulation of Fuels and Fuel 

Additives: RFS Pathways II, and Technical Amendments to the RFS Standards and E15 Misfueling 

Mitigation Requirements,” RIN 2060-AR21. 

 Cellulosic content of feedstock greater than 75% 

o Will EPA clarify whether this threshold also applies to corn kernel fiber or any other 

feedstock that may have some corn starch content?

 If for example, 25% of corn kernel fiber’s content were corn starch, then this would mean 

that all of the ethanol produced from that starch would qualify as cellulosic biofuel? 

o EPA’s complied data on cellulosic feedstock concentrations in Table 2 of the draft memo to 

the docket titled, “Cellulosic Content of Various Feedstocks,” indicates that corn kernel fiber 

has an average of 87% cellulosic material. Does this mean that any corn starch that would 

be left in the corn kernel fiber that would be converted to biofuel could count as cellulosic 

or as corn ethanol? 

o Did EPA specify any mass balance or other verification provisions in the regulatory text that 

would differentiate any biofuel produced from corn starch contained in corn kernel fiber or 

any other corn based feedstock?

o EPA states in the Table 5 of the “Cellulosic Content of Various Feedstocks” draft memo that 

the average cellulosic content ranged from 75% to 92%. What is the reason for choosing 

75% over some other percentage up to 92%?

 Renewable electricity for electric vehicles from landfill biogas

o For the 636 landfill biogas projects that are currently operating, how will EPA verify that the 

biogas that is currently being converted to electricity is being used by vehicles? Where in 

the preamble and regulatory text is this described?

o If the landfill biogas is already being converted to electricity for use in the transportation 

sector, how would this meet the 50% GHG reduction requirements? 

 Treatment of corn starch that adheres to corn kernel fiber after separate from DDG

o In the memo to the docket titled, “Cellulosic Content of Various Feedstocks,” EPA indicates 

that on average 87 percent of corn kernel fiber is cellulosic material and that 13 percent is 

other organics. EPA defines other organics as including starch. Does EPA know what 

portion of the 13 percent was identified as being starch? 

o In the preamble section titled, “Treatment of Corn Starch that Adheres to Corn Kernel 

Fiber...,” EPA states that more recent and refined data better represents the current 

methods of starch-fiber separation. What does the new data indicate concerning the 

percentage of starch that still adheres to the corn kernel after separation from DDG?

o Will all biofuel produced from corn kernel fiber feedstock be qualified cellulosic material 

based on the provisions in the rule regarding the minimum threshold of 75 percent cellulosic 

material? For corn kernel fiber feedstock, is there anything in the regulatory text that would 

prohibit biofuel producers from producing cellulosic biofuel even if 25 percent of the corn 

kernel fiber consists of corn starch? 
Summary	of	Interagency	Working	Comments	on	Draft	Language	under	

EO13563	Interagency	Review.		Subject	to	Further	Policy	Review.

o For the corn kernel fiber feedstock pathway, is there any periodic mass-balance or other 

requirements in the rule that would require the biofuel producer to verify that the starch 

content of corn kernel fiber is de minimis? 

 Small Refinery 

o How many small refineries/refiners qualified for the exemption in 2006 based on the 75,000 

bpd threshold? 

o If the provision were evaluated for each year in isolation and not for all years back to 2006, 

how many refiners would qualify for the exemption in 2013 (or the most recent year that 

production data is available) based on the 75,000 bpd threshold? 

o If the provisions as written were to go into effect, how many more gallons of ethanol would 

need to be blended into transportation fuel? Would the change in this exemption require 

the blending of ethanol in biofuel that was previously E0 and how would this effect the 

blend wall?