Biodiesel Offers Safe & Affordable RINs for 2008 & 2009
NBB Welcomes EPA Announcement of Updated Renewable Fuel Standard

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.– The National Biodiesel Board welcomes the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) publication of the new 9 billion gallon Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2008.

NBB CEO Joe Jobe explains how biodiesel is an important component and a huge value to the current domestic petroleum marketplace. "In 2008, we anticipate the domestic biodiesel industry will produce more than 500 million gallons or at least 750 million worry-free renewable identification numbers (RINs), which can be used by the petroleum sector to meet its renewable fuel requirements in both 2008 and 2009."

The petroleum sector is preparing for compliance with the updated RFS and must secure enough infrastructure to move renewable fuels in the marketplace. All RINs generated in 2008 will meet the minimum lifecycle analysis of 20 percent, which according to Congress, is required to carry a renewable fuel RIN into 2009.

"Biodiesel RINs offer 'safe' RINs for the petroleum industry," said Jobe. "First, biodiesel will exceed the 20 percent lifecycle greenhouse gas reduction requirements for the base renewable fuel mandate in 2009. In fact, according to a USDA/DOE life cycle study, soy-based biodiesel has a 78% carbon dioxide reduction. Second, biodiesel can be used in 2008 and the RINs can be safely carried forward to 2009, which means the RINs can be sold or purchased without fear of whether or not they will be valid."

Furthermore, infrastructure is not currently an issue for biodiesel. The current 500 million gallons of domestic biodiesel production can easily be added to the infrastructure of the U.S. 60 billion gallon diesel marketplace.

The EPA published a Federal Register notice on Feb. 14 announcing that 9 billion gallons of renewable fuels are going to be required to meet the 7.76 percent RFS in 2008. The Clean Air Act, as amended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), requires the EPA Administrator to annually determine an RFS. It applies to refiners, importers and certain blenders of gasoline. On the basis of this standard, each obligated party determines the volume of renewable fuel that it must use. This standard is calculated as a percentage, by dividing the amount of renewable fuel that the Act requires to be blended into gasoline for a given year by the amount of gasoline expected to be used during that year.

In 2007, the U.S. biodiesel industry produced nearly 500 million gallons of high quality, clean burning, sulfur free biodiesel, with a RIN value of approximately 750 million "ethanol-equivalent gallons."

EPA bases RINs on an "ethanol-equivalency value," and according to the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) from last week, the current "Biodiesel RIN Value" based on an ethanol-equivalent gallon was approximately $2.32 per gallon, during the same week the New York spot price for ethanol was $2.47 per gallon.

The NBB is the national trade association of the biodiesel industry and is the coordinating body for biodiesel research and development in the U.S. NBB’s membership is comprised of state, national, and international feedstock and feedstock processor organizations, biodiesel suppliers, fuel marketers and distributors, and technology providers.

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