On February 9, 2015, a bi-partisan group of 32 Senators led by Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy regarding 2014 and future biodiesel volume requirements under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In their letter, the Senators urge EPA to get the biodiesel renewable volume requirements (RVOs) under the RFS back on schedule. To this end, the Senators request that EPA set the 2014 biodiesel RVOs at actual production volumes and move to set the 2015 and 2016 RVOs as soon as possible. The 2016 RVOs should have been set by December of 2014 under the RFS.

On February 10, 2015, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, sent a similar letter to EPA Administrator McCarthy.

These new letters come at a time when EPA is being criticized generally for delaying regulatory action on the RFS, and specifically for its recent approval of the importation of biodiesel made with soybeans from Argentinian biofuel producers as qualifying for credit under the RFS. See the Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group's (BRAG^®) coverage of this most recent issue.

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