The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not yet decided on a guideline to set the level for the quantity of biofuel need to be mixed with conventional vehicle fuels this year.
Due to the delay, the agency will not take up the Renewable Fuel Standard till next year. It then seeks to lay down levels for the years 2015 and 2016, said an EPA statement.
The proposal of the agency which was released in the previous year intending to lessen the biofuel targets had generated significant comment and controversy. A continual consideration related to those issues prompted the agency not to take a decision in the current year, says EPA website.
However, efficient cars, dull economy and the share drilling has caused large supply of domestic oil production which eventually reduced the biofuel demand.
Regular corn ethanol which has been flooding the market and the cellulosic production does not meet the mandate that is required for the refiners.
A lot of the motivation for biofuels is gone and this delay is not just a stall tactic. The E. P. A. really doesn’t know what to do and they need to kind of give it another year to figure out, commented, Michael E. Webber, deputy director, Energy Institute, University of Texas, Austin.
Sabeena Wahid
editor@greentechlead.com