EPA to Allow Argentine Biodiesel in US

STREATOR, Ill. (DTN) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a new rule Tuesday that allows biodiesel from Argentina to be imported to the United States, and for the biodiesel to qualify as a renewable fuel that meets the Renewable Fuel Standard provided a third party audited the land used to grow the feedstock in making the blendstock.

EPA said today it has approved a plan submitted by a consortium of Argentinean renewable fuel producers -- Camara Argentina de Biocombustibles, CARBIO -- to demonstrate compliance with RFS.

"The plan satisfies one aspect of the RFS, which is that importers are required to keep records which demonstrate that the feedstocks used to produce the fuel come from qualified land," EPA said. "CARBIO's plan includes a robust tracking program that requires an independent third party to conduct an annual survey of the entire biofuel supply chain, from soybean production through intermediate processing, to biodiesel production."

EPA said this approved plan "enhances existing regulatory oversight requirements" currently applied to qualifying renewable fuels being imported from Argentina.

The National Biodiesel Board, a U.S. biodiesel trade organization, blasted the rule this afternoon as a "threat" to the U.S. biodiesel industry.

"This decision poses a tremendous threat to U.S. industry and jobs, not to mention the overriding goal of the RFS of developing clean, homegrown renewable fuels," said Anne Steckel, NBB's vice president of federal affairs.

The NBB estimates the ruling would result in 600,000 gallons of biodiesel annually imported from Argentina to the United States, particularly damaging in light of the failure to finalize both the 2014 and 2015 blending mandates, Steckel said.

"The Obama administration has effectively run the U.S. biodiesel industry into a ditch over the past year by failing to establish a functioning renewable fuels policy and instead of pulling the domestic industry out, it is fast-tracking foreign competition."

To prevent deforestation and other harmful land-use changes, feedstocks used under the RFS generally must be grown on land that was cleared or cultivated prior to Dec. 18, 2007 -- when the RFS was implemented. Typically, foreign producers must closely map and track each batch of feedstock used to produce imported renewable fuels.

EPA's decision today allows Argentinian biodiesel producers to use a survey plan for certifying that feedstocks used, in this case soybean oil, with a third party paid auditor.

"Many of the soybeans processed into soybean oil in Argentina come from Uruguay, Peru, Brazil, and other countries," NBB explained. "Given the complex international trade involved, the EPA will have little ability to verify the survey plans proposed by Argentinian producers."

Argentina would be the first country to use a survey approach under the RFS. Canada and the United States operate under an aggregate approach in which feedstock is approved so long as the aggregate amount of agricultural land in each country does not expand.

"At a time when our U.S. industry needs a lifeline, it feels instead like we're being pushed back under water," Steckel said. "This decision simply makes no sense from an economic perspective, an energy security perspective or an environmental perspective. It is baffling."

(BM/AG)

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