EPA Argentine biodiesel decision upsets industry
January 30, 2015 |07:11 AM
An Environmental Protection Agency decision this week that an Argentine biodiesel exporter would meet the standards of the Renewable Fuel Standard has come under fire from the National Biodiesel Board and the American Soybean Association.
In an announcement Tuesday, the agency said that “after an extensive review process the EPA has approved a plan submitted by a consortium of Argentinean renewable fuel producers (Camara Argentina de Biocombustibles, CARBIO) to demonstrate compliance with U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) regulatory requirements.”
EPA said the plan “satisfies one aspect of the RFS, which is that importers are required to keep records which demonstrate that the feedstocks used to produce the fuel come from qualified land.”
“CARBIO’s plan includes a robust tracking program that requires an independent third party to conduct an annual survey of the entire biofuel supply chain, from soybean production through intermediate processing, to biodiesel production,” EPA said.
“This approved plan enhances existing regulatory oversight requirements currently applied to qualifying renewable fuels being imported from Argentina.”
But the National Biodiesel Board said CARBIO’s sourcing of soybeans would not be easy to verify and that the possibility that 600 millions of Argentine biodiesel might enter the U.S. market could be devastating to the U.S. industry.
To prevent deforestation and other harmful land-use changes, feedstocks used under the RFS generally must be grown on land that was cleared or cultivated before Dec. 18, 2007, when the RFS was implemented, and foreign producers must closely map and track each batch of feedstock used to produce imported renewable fuels, NBB explained in a news release.
NBB said that allowing the Argentine biodiesel producers to use a third-party survey plan to certify that the soybean oil was produced under certain conditions “is far less stringent than the current map and track requirement and more difficult to verify” than the system required for U.S. and Canadian producers.
“Many of the soybeans processed into soybean oil in Argentina come from Uruguay, Peru, Brazil, and other countries,” NBB continued.”Given the complex international trade involved, the EPA will have little ability to verify the survey plans proposed by Argentinian producers.”
Anne Steckel
“This decision poses a tremendous threat to U.S. industry and jobs, not to mention the overriding goal of the RFS of developing clean, homegrown renewable fuels,” said Anne Steckel, NBB’s vice president of federal affairs.
“This is incredibly damaging, particularly in light of the continued delays in establishing RFS volumes,” Steckel said.
“The Obama administration has effectively run the U.S. biodiesel industry into a ditch over the past year by failing to establish a functioning renewable fuels policy, and instead of pulling the domestic industry out, it is fast-tracking foreign competition.”
“This decision simply makes no sense from an economic perspective, an energy security perspective or an environmental perspective. It is baffling," Steckel added.
Wade Cowan
EPA’s decision on Argentinian biodiesel “shows a lack of coordination and alarming tone-deafness regarding the purposes of the Renewable Fuels Standard,” said ASA President Wade Cowan, a Brownfield, Texas, farmer.
“EPA has put the interests of our foreign competitors above those of soybean farmers here in the U.S,” Cowan said. “At this point, we can only scratch our heads and wonder what EPA’s priorities are when it comes to the domestic renewable fuels industry.”
“Do they recognize that they have not set volume requirements for 2014 — which has already passed — or for 2015, which we’re already a month into?,” Cowan asked.
“Do they realize that every link in the biodiesel supply chain — from soybean farmers to gas station owners — is in limbo, awaiting their long-delinquent action on these decisions? Do they recall that one of the purposes of this program is to increase domestic energy independence?
“It sure seems that the answer to each of these questions is a resounding ‘no’.”
“President [Barack] Obama should not be pleased with the job EPA is doing on renewable fuels,” Cowan added.
“The agency’s manner of haphazard decision-making, which is so sorely lacking in direction, belies the Obama administration’s support for the U.S. biofuels industry. Until the past year, the White House could rightly share the credit for the benefits that this industry has provided to the rural economy, energy security, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But these latest actions and inactions from EPA overshadow that progress and can only be seen as an embarrassment.”
The industry is “looking at all of our options for reversing the decision,” an NBB spokesman said in an email.
▪ Environmental Protection Agency — Letter to Camara Argentina de Biocombustibles (CARBIO)
In an announcement Tuesday, the agency said that “after an extensive review process the EPA has approved a plan submitted by a consortium of Argentinean renewable fuel producers (Camara Argentina de Biocombustibles, CARBIO) to demonstrate compliance with U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) regulatory requirements.”
EPA said the plan “satisfies one aspect of the RFS, which is that importers are required to keep records which demonstrate that the feedstocks used to produce the fuel come from qualified land.”
“CARBIO’s plan includes a robust tracking program that requires an independent third party to conduct an annual survey of the entire biofuel supply chain, from soybean production through intermediate processing, to biodiesel production,” EPA said.
“This approved plan enhances existing regulatory oversight requirements currently applied to qualifying renewable fuels being imported from Argentina.”
But the National Biodiesel Board said CARBIO’s sourcing of soybeans would not be easy to verify and that the possibility that 600 millions of Argentine biodiesel might enter the U.S. market could be devastating to the U.S. industry.
To prevent deforestation and other harmful land-use changes, feedstocks used under the RFS generally must be grown on land that was cleared or cultivated before Dec. 18, 2007, when the RFS was implemented, and foreign producers must closely map and track each batch of feedstock used to produce imported renewable fuels, NBB explained in a news release.
NBB said that allowing the Argentine biodiesel producers to use a third-party survey plan to certify that the soybean oil was produced under certain conditions “is far less stringent than the current map and track requirement and more difficult to verify” than the system required for U.S. and Canadian producers.
“Many of the soybeans processed into soybean oil in Argentina come from Uruguay, Peru, Brazil, and other countries,” NBB continued.”Given the complex international trade involved, the EPA will have little ability to verify the survey plans proposed by Argentinian producers.”
“This decision poses a tremendous threat to U.S. industry and jobs, not to mention the overriding goal of the RFS of developing clean, homegrown renewable fuels,” said Anne Steckel, NBB’s vice president of federal affairs.
“This is incredibly damaging, particularly in light of the continued delays in establishing RFS volumes,” Steckel said.
“The Obama administration has effectively run the U.S. biodiesel industry into a ditch over the past year by failing to establish a functioning renewable fuels policy, and instead of pulling the domestic industry out, it is fast-tracking foreign competition.”
“This decision simply makes no sense from an economic perspective, an energy security perspective or an environmental perspective. It is baffling," Steckel added.
EPA’s decision on Argentinian biodiesel “shows a lack of coordination and alarming tone-deafness regarding the purposes of the Renewable Fuels Standard,” said ASA President Wade Cowan, a Brownfield, Texas, farmer.
“EPA has put the interests of our foreign competitors above those of soybean farmers here in the U.S,” Cowan said. “At this point, we can only scratch our heads and wonder what EPA’s priorities are when it comes to the domestic renewable fuels industry.”
“Do they recognize that they have not set volume requirements for 2014 — which has already passed — or for 2015, which we’re already a month into?,” Cowan asked.
“Do they realize that every link in the biodiesel supply chain — from soybean farmers to gas station owners — is in limbo, awaiting their long-delinquent action on these decisions? Do they recall that one of the purposes of this program is to increase domestic energy independence?
“It sure seems that the answer to each of these questions is a resounding ‘no’.”
“President [Barack] Obama should not be pleased with the job EPA is doing on renewable fuels,” Cowan added.
“The agency’s manner of haphazard decision-making, which is so sorely lacking in direction, belies the Obama administration’s support for the U.S. biofuels industry. Until the past year, the White House could rightly share the credit for the benefits that this industry has provided to the rural economy, energy security, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But these latest actions and inactions from EPA overshadow that progress and can only be seen as an embarrassment.”
The industry is “looking at all of our options for reversing the decision,” an NBB spokesman said in an email.
▪ Environmental Protection Agency — Letter to Camara Argentina de Biocombustibles (CARBIO)
