By Erin Voegele

On Oct. 19, the U.S. EPA delivered its proposed rule to set renewable fuel standard (RFS) volume standards for 2017 and biobased diesel standards for 2018 to the White House Office of Management and Budget. OBM review marks a final step before a final rule is issued.

The proposed rule was first issued by EPA on May 18. It aims to set RFS renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2017, along with the 2018 RVO for biomass-based diesel. In the proposed rule, the agency set the 2017 RVO for cellulosic biofuel at 312 million gallons, with the advanced biofuel RVO at 4 billion gallons and the RVO for total renewable fuel at 18.8 billion gallons. The 2018 RVO for biomass-based diesel has been proposed at 2.1 billion gallons.