### Summary of Interagency Working Comments on Draft Language under EO

12866 and EO 13563 Interagency Review. Subject to Further Policy Review.

EO 12866 Interagency Comments on U.S. Environmental Protec tion Agency (EPA) draft final rule titled, “ Renewable Fuel Standard Program: Standards for 2014, 2015, and 2016 and

Biomass

- Based Diesel Volume for 2017 ,” RIN 2060

- AS22

Two follow

- up comments:

1. The commenter suggests that EPA acknowledge the drought in 2012 in this section. Perhaps

a footnote can capture that essence.

Suggested Edits: Fn 75: [1] We have considered t he possibility that the market did not fully respond to the 2013 RFS standards despite the availability of the biodiesel tax credit in 2013 because of the availability of carryover RINs. We believe that the benefit to obligated parties of maintaining thei r banks of carryover RINs in 2013

– especially in light of ever

- increasing RFS volume requirements in future years and uncertainty regarding how EPA may interpret its waiver authorities

– would have led obligated parties to strongly favor use of 2013 RINs over banked carryover RINs. We also

consider the more limited corn stocks available for much of 2013 due to the 2012 drought. However, we note that ethanol exports were still occurring in 2013 even though ethanol imports increased substantially during t his period. Thus, we do not believe that the availability of 2013 carryover RINs nor the historic 2012 drought in the

United States undermines our conclusion that the renewable fuel market was constrained

in 2013.

2. The commenter would like to emphasize that the intent of the BIP program is both E15 and E85 pump infrastructure. Using the press release (i.e., written by the Office of Communications) is not as appropriate as the Fed Register notice.

For example the quote that EPA seems to want to focus on is "... A typical gas pump delivers fuel with 10 percent ethanol, which limits the amount of renewable energy most consumers can purchase at the pump. USDA estimates that this investment will more than double the number of

stations that offer intermediat e blends of ethanol, mainly E15 fuel levels, nationwide...." As we all know doubling the number of E15 pumps is numerically a more feasible proposition than doubling E85 pumps for a given amount of funding.

However the intent of the program is aptly described in the FR Notice: "... The overall goal of BIP is to increase biofuel consumption in the form of ethanol...." and "...CCC funds made available under BIP may only be used for infrastructure to support high er ethanol blend utilization, including:

 Blender pumps that can dispense a range of ethanol blends including E85 (new pumps or retrofit of existing pumps), capped at 75 percent CCC share per pump; Dedicated E15 or E85 pumps (new pumps or retrofit of exist ing pumps), capped at 75 percent CCC share per pump; and Show citation box

 New storage tanks and related equipment associated with new facilities or additional capacity (replacement is not included), capped at 25 percent CCC share per tank..."

T he Federal Register notice more adequately describe s the intent of the BIP program.

Suggest Edits:

While the infrastructure changes are required to be completed by the end of 2016, there are also opportunities for extensions of up to two additional years. The program supports both E15 and E85 deployment. I t is unclear how many new E15 and E85 stations would result from this USDA program in 2016. Deleted: Moreover, while the program supports both E15 and E85 deployment, USDA has indicated that the primary focus of the program is to increase refueling opportunities for E15.

Deleted: Thus, i