Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Renewable Fuel Standard ...

tobacco, potatoes or other biomass. In addition, it includes motor vehicle fuels made
using a feedstock of natural gas if produced from a biogas source such as a landfill,
sewage waste treatment plant, feedlot, or other place where decaying organic material is
found.
According to the Act, the motor vehicle fuels must be used “to replace or reduce
the quantity of fossil fuel present in a fuel mixture used to operate a motor vehicle”.
Some motor vehicle fuels can be used in both motor vehicles or nonroad engines or
equipment. For example, highway gasoline and diesel fuel are often used in both
highway and off-highway applications. Compressed natural gas can likewise be used in
either highway or nonroad applications. For purposes of the renewable fuel program,
EPA intends to consider a fuel to be a “motor vehicle fuel” and to be a “a fuel mixture
used to operate a motor vehicle,” based on its potential for use in highway vehicles,
without regard to whether it in fact is used in a highway or nonroad vehicle. If it is a fuel
that could be used in highway vehicles, it will satisfy these parts of the definition of
renewable fuel, whether it is later used in highway or nonroad applications. This will
allow a motor vehicle fuel that otherwise meets the definition to be counted towards an
RVO without the need to track it to determine its actual application in a highway vehicle.
This is also consistent with the requirement that EPA base the renewable fuel obligation
on estimates of the entire volume of gasoline consumed, without regard to whether it is
used in highway or nonroad applications. Fuels that otherwise meet this definition but
are designated by the producer for use in boilers, or heaters, or any use other than
highway or nonroad use, would not meet the definition of renewable fuel.
Renewable fuel, as defined, may be made from a number of different types of
feedstocks. For example, the Fisher-Tropsch process can use methane gas from landfills
as a feedstock, to produce diesel or gasoline. Vegetable oil made from oilseeds such as
rapeseed or soybeans can be used to make biodiesel or renewable diesel. Methane, made
from landfill gas (biogas) can be used to make methanol. Also, some vegetable oils or
animal fats can be processed in distillation columns in refineries to make gasoline; as
such, the renewable feedstock serves as a “biocrude”, and the resulting gasoline or diesel
product would be a renewable fuel. This last example is discussed in further detail in
Section III.B.3 below.
As this discussion shows, the definition of renewable fuel in the Act is broad in
scope, and covers a wide range of fuels. While ethanol is used primarily in combination
with gasoline, other fuels that meet the definition of renewable fuel include biodiesel and
various alternative fuels that can be used in their neat form, such as ethanol, methanol or
natural gas, without blending into gasoline and without being used to produce a gasoline
blending component (such as ETBE). The definition of renewable fuel in the Act is not
limited to fuels that can be blended with gasoline. At the same time, the RFS regulatory
program is to “ensure that gasoline sold or introduced into commerce … contains the
applicable volume of renewable fuel.” This applicable volume is specified as a total
volume of renewable fuel, in the billions of gallons on an aggregate basis. Congress also
clearly specified that one renewable fuel, biodiesel, could be counted towards compliance
even though it is not a gasoline component, and does not directly displace or replace
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