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 Protection 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 the 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 their 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 this 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 intermediate 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 higher 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 existing pumps), capped at 

75 percent CCC share per pump; andShow 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..."

The Federal Register notice more adequately describes 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. It 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