“The Third Report concludes that the effect of the Renewable Fuel Standard Program varies with time and the RFS Program had a modest positive effect on biofuel production and consumption, and thus had a modest negative effect on the environment,” said the EPA in a notice posted to its website. “These endpoints include air and water quality, water quantity, ecosystem health and biodiversity, soil quality, invasive species, and international impacts. The impacts of the RFS Program overlap with the more significant effects of biofuels as an industry.”
The EPA is required to report to congress on the environmental and resource conservation impacts of the RFS program under Section 2004 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The reports are required to be made on a triennial basis. The first such report was completed in 2011, with the second completed in 2018. The third report builds on the previous two reports and aims to provide an update of the impacts to date of the RFS program on the environment.
According to EPA, the first two reports were unable to separate the effects of the RFS program from the impact of other factors, such as market or other policy effects. The new report includes an attribution analysis that is designed to better separate the effects of the RFS program from other factors that also affect biofuel production and consumption in the U.S.
Development of the new report has been ongoing for several years. A draft version of the third triennial report was published by the EPA in early 2023 and subject to a 60-day public comment period. A full copy of the 1,000-plus final report is available on the EPA’s website.
