US refiners will need to provide ever higher volumes of renewable fuels or pay for ever greater amounts of renewable fuel credits to meet the latest proposed fuel blending standards of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the total volume of renewable blendstocks added to fuels in 2022 would set a new record at 20.77 billion gal, and EPA is proposing a “supplemental obligation” of 250 million gal be added to that total. The supplement is a response to a 2017 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that narrowed the criteria for calculating “inadequate domestic supply” when EPA issues waivers. EPA said it would add another 250 million gal to its 2023 plans. In its Dec. 7 announcement of the new volume requirements, the agency said it was proposing to retroactively revise its 2020 total level to […]