WASHINGTON — Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), American Petroleum Institute (API), and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) announced an agreement in which the EPA will issue the proposed 2015 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations (RVO) by June 1, 2015 and will finalize the 2014 and 2015 RFS RVOs by Nov. 30, 2015. In addition to the agreement, EPA announced that it will also release the proposed 2016 RFS RVOs by June 1 and the 2016 numbers will be finalized by Nov. 30. Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, released the following statement:

We applaud EPA and API for reaching an agreement that will provide all stakeholders some certainty with regard to the Renewable Fuel Standard. No one has benefited from the delays in setting annual renewable volume obligations; and while we are sympathetic to the difficulty EPA faces in promulgating annual targets, the statute is clear about the volumes required and the Agency simply has to do a better job moving forward. This consent agreement is a good start. We are particularly pleased that the Agency has committed to addressing the 2016 RVO in the same timeframe even though that is outside the scope of the consent agreement. More important than EPA meeting its statutory deadlines, however, is that the Agency recognize the market transforming purpose of the RFS and allow the RIN mechanism to drive investment in infrastructure and compel consumer choice at the pump.