Biobutanol technology provider believes US RFS is ‘working successfully’

Butamax Advanced Biofuels, a biobutanol technology company, has met with officials of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2014 RVO targets this October.

This comes after recent news reports have claimed industry stakeholders and market participants were concerned over a potential lowering of cellulosic and conventional ethanol volumes under the RFS, although the EPA responded by saying it was only working on a ‘draft proposal’.

Butamax informed OMB, EPA and other agency officials in attendance that it would submit documentation detailing how the RFS is working successfully. The report is titled How the RFS actually delivers renewable energy policy objectives and below is an excerpt from its introduction:

‘A number of critics have suggested the RFS is flawed, broken or infeasible and therefore must be either substantially re-written or simply abolished. We (Butamax) emphatically disagree. In fact, we assert the RFS is working as designed and its goals are being realized. Recent proposals to reduce biofuel blending targets are fundamentally at odds with the objectives of the RFS and must be re-considered.’

 ‘We have a real world understanding of how the RFS is working in the marketplace and how it is affecting consumers. Our analysis demonstrates the policy is working to encourage biofuels usage, lower greenhouse gases, and is in fact functioning to keep prices at the pump low,’ says Butamax CEO Paul Beckwith.

‘Rhetoric claiming the RFS is adding to fuel costs for the consumer just isn’t accurate. This document supports our statements and explains how the long-term goals of the legislation are already being achieved.’

Beckwith believes the goals of the RFS – which are US domestic energy security, rural and agricultural jobs and lower greenhouse gases - are being realised.

‘If media reports are accurate regarding the EPA’s 2014 RVO targets, then it will have failed to implement the RFS as designed by Congress, which was intended to drive biofuel growth. This would undermine efforts to grow US domestic energy sources and protect the environment for future generations,’ he adds.

‘Given the very serious negative repercussions for the environment and job creation, Butamax is hopeful that the White House, the EPA and OMB will maintain its long standing support of the bipartisan goals of the RFS.’