Press Releases & Statements
June 21, 2023
Statement of the U.S. Canola Association Regarding EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard Volumes for 2023-25
The U.S. Canola Association (USCA) – a non-profit commodity organization representing the entire canola value chain, including growers, seed companies, processors and traders – is disappointed by the limited growth represented by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2023, 2024 and 2025. Canola is one of several crop feedstocks approved under the RFS for production of clean-burning biofuels, including biodiesel, renewable diesel, naphtha, heating oil, propane and sustainable aviation fuel.
The final RFS volumes for 2023-25 limit the opportunity to maximize the production of biomass-based diesel fuels that are available now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. The EPA’s final biomass-based diesel volumes – 2.82 billion gallons in 2023, 3.04 billion in 2024 and 3.35 billion in 2025 – do not reflect production levels already achieved and surpassed by the industry or the oilseed crush and biofuel processing capacity expansion plans. EPA data showed that the U.S. biomass-based diesel market reached 3.1 billion gallons in 2021 and exceeded that level in 2022, which are higher levels than the RFS volumes set by the EPA for 2023 and 2024. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Short Term Energy Outlook for June 2023 projects increases in U.S. production of biodiesel and renewable diesel of more than 800 million gallons in 2023 and 900 million gallons in 2024. The USCA and industry stakeholders supported increased RFS volumes, calling for the EPA to annually increase the biomass-based diesel volumes by 500 million gallons per year.
As noted in the USCA’s Feb. 10, 2023 letter to the EPA, the past performance and record of the agriculture and biofuels industries demonstrates the ability to respond with sustainable expansion and diversification of feedstocks. Canola acreage and yields in the primary growing region in North Dakota continue to trend upward. There is also significant potential for expansion of canola production as a winter crop.
The biofuel market is a valuable outlet for surplus canola oil not utilized for food production. In 2021-22, approximately 1.4 billion pounds of canola oil were used annually in biofuels.
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Contact: Angela Dansby, USCA Director of Communications, angela@uscanola.com