Regulatory Announcement 

EPA Finalizes 2011 Renewable Fuel 

Standards 

Under the Clean Air Act Section 211(o), as amended by the 

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set renewable 

fuel standards each November for the following year based on gasoline 

and diesel projections from the Energy Information Administration 

(EIA). EPA is also required to set the cellulosic biofuel standard 

each year based on the volume projected to be available during the 

following year, using EIA projections and assessments of production 

capability from industry. This regulatory action finalizes these annual 

standards for cellulosic, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and 

total renewable fuels that apply to all gasoline and diesel produced or 

imported in year 2011. 

The final rule also presents two changes to the RFS2 regulations. 

The first modifies the provision for “delayed RINs” to make it more 

broadly applicable to any biofuel production pathway so long as the 

biofuel was in commercial production on July 1, 2010, EPA receives 

a petition pursuant to Section 80.1416 of Title 40 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations (CFR) by January 31, 2011, and EPA determines 

that the fuel pathway provides appropriate greenhouse gas reductions 

as required by EISA. The second regulatory provision being finalized 

in this rulemaking establishes criteria for EPA to use in determining 

whether to approve petitions for foreign-grown feedstocks so that they 

may use an aggregate approach to comply with the renewable biomass 

verification provisions, akin to that applicable to producers using 

crops and crop residue grown in the United States. 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality 

EPA-420-F-10-056 

November 2010 
 

 

Regulatory Announcement 

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Finally, the final rule presents two administrative announcements. First, EPA 

is announcing the price for cellulosic biofuel waiver credits. Second, EPA is 

announcing the results of its annual assessment of the aggregate compliance 

approach for U.S. crops and crop residue. 

General Background 

EPA is required to determine and publish the applicable annual renewable fuel percentage 

standards for each compliance year by November 30 of the previous year. Determining the 

applicable standards under RFS2 requires EPA to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the volume 

of qualifying cellulosic biofuel that can be made available the following year. If the projected 

available volume of cellulosic biofuel is less than the required volume specified in the statute, 

EPA must lower the required volume used to set the annual cellulosic biofuel percentage standard to the projected available volume. EPA must also determine whether the advanced biofuel 

and/or total renewable fuel volumes should be reduced by the same or a lesser amount. The final 

rule provides EPA’s evaluation of the projected production of cellulosic biofuel for 2011, and the 

final percentage standards for compliance year 2011. 

Final Percentage Standards for 2011 

To calculate the percentage standard for cellulosic biofuel for 2011, EPA used a volume of 6.0 

million ethanol-equivalent gallons (representing 6.6 million physical gallons).1 EPA is also 

requiring that the applicable volumes for biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total 

renewable fuel for 2011 will be those specified in the statute. These volumes are shown in Table 1. 

Final Volumes for 2011 

Actual Volume Ethanol Equivalent Volume 

Cellulosic biofuel 6.6 mill gal 6.0 mill gal 

Biomass-based diesel 0.80 bill gal 1.20 bill gal 

Advanced biofuel 1.35 bill gal 1.35 bill gal 

Renewable fuel 13.95 bill gal 13.95 bill gal 

1 Percentage standards are based on ethanol-equivalent volumes, not actual volumes. The ethanol-equivalent 

volume is determined from the volumetric energy content of a biofuel in comparison to the volumetric energy 

content of denatured ethanol. Insofar as actual volumes used to meet the standards are comprised of fuels other 

than ethanol, the actual volume and ethanol-equivalent volume will differ. 

The volumes in Table 1 are the minimum that must be consumed in the U.S. Insofar as excess 

volumes of cellulosic biofuel or biomass-based diesel are consumed, they will count towards the 

advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel volume requirements. 
Regulatory Announcement 

Four separate standards are required under the RFS2 program, corresponding to the four separate 

volume requirements shown in Table 2. The percentage standards represent the ratio of renewable fuel volume to non-renewable gasoline and diesel volume. Thus, in 2011 about 8% of all 

fuel used will be from renewable sources. The proposed standards for 2011 are shown in Table 2. 

Final Percentage Standards for 2011 

Cellulosic biofuel 0.003% 

Biomass-based diesel 0.69% 

Advanced biofuel 0.78% 

Renewable fuel 8.01% 

For More Information 

For more information on this proposal, please visit the RFS website at: 

www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels 

To submit a question on the RFS program, and to view Frequently Asked Questions, please visit: 

www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/compliancehelp/index.htm 

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