Letter to the Hon. Michael S. Regan, Administrator Environmental Protection Agency - Shaheen, Collins Lead Bipartisan Letter to EPA Urging Support for Biomass Industry

Letter

Dear Administrator Regan:

We are writing to request that you act expeditiously to address languishing applications for
renewable electricity producers to participate in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.
Farmers, foresters, local governments and small business owners nationwide have been
adversely impacted by the inability to participate in the RFS due to agency inaction on renewable
facility registration applications involving approved fuel pathways and petitions for approval of
additional fuel pathways.

Biogas, biomass and waste-to-energy electricity producers need the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to take action to approve their participation in this important program. In some
cases, authorization for participation in the program is the difference between survival and
having to shut their doors. The production of cellulosic biofuel electricity from RFS-approved
feedstocks helps drive the growth and development of sustainable agriculture, forestry and the
rural economy, and supports greenhouse gas emissions reductions. EPA needs to act with
urgency to address obstacles limiting biomass power generation and the forest-based industries it
supports.

Quick action on pending applications to generate RFS credits for electricity produced from
biogas will allow electric vehicle owners to access power generated from low-carbon fuels,
which is necessary to realize the full carbon savings potential of electric transportation. Under
existing regulations and approved pathways, electricity generated with biogas from landfills and
organic waste digesters is an RFS-qualified fuel that can be used to power electric vehicles
(EVs), and yet many renewable fuel producers have been pursuing a response to their
applications for almost seven years.

Congress has made clear the importance of addressing the backlog of advanced biofuel
registrations so that more fuel producers can participate in the RFS. In 2020, Congress provided
direction and funding for the EPA to process existing applications under the Renewable Fuels
Pathway II for the electric pathway in the explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L.116-260). Congress further directed EPA to provide a briefing
within 60 days of the bill's enactment of planned Agency actions to process the existing
applications. Accordingly, we respectfully request that the EPA approve applications to generate
credits under the program for electricity produced with biogas.

In addition, we urge you to immediately process petitions for fuel pathways involving woody
biomass feedstocks and waste-to-energy facilities, which are awaiting EPA action that is long
overdue. The current RFS program, which was passed into law as a part of the Energy
Independence and Security Act of 2007, encourages American energy innovators to produce low
carbon fuels from cellulosic biomass. To be eligible, cellulosic fuels--defined broadly to include
both cellulosic biofuels and renewable electricity for electric vehicles--must attain at least a
60% reduction in carbon intensity compared to the petroleum-based fuel they are displacing.
Electricity from woody biomass and waste-to-energy easily achieves this benchmark. However,
electricity producers that use biomass and municipal waste as feedstocks are not yet eligible to
participate in the RFS program because their fuel pathway petitions applications have not yet
been approved by the EPA.

Allowing these cellulosic biofuel electricity producers to participate in the RFS will help achieve
the original goals of the program. The law calls for 10.5 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuel in
2020. However, due to the lack of available cellulosic biofuels to satisfy this standard, the EPA
adjusted the 2020 Renewable Volume Obligation to only 418 million gallons of cellulosic
biofuel, less than 4% of the statutory target.

As the Administration considers the 2021 Renewable Volume Obligation, including electricity
should be a top priority. Approving these backlogged applications and petitions, which the EPA
has existing authority to do, will help the U.S. advance its clean energy goals while supporting
local economies in rural America.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue.

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