Recent Federal Actions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the 2019 volume requirements and associated percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that must be blended into transportation fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS2). EPA also finalized the 2020 volume requirements for biomass-based diesel.

The final renewable fuel volumes are as follows:

The associated renewable fuel percentage standards are as follows:

For more information, refer to the final rule and EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard Program website.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a request for nominations for the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act Section 1413 Alternative Fuel Corridor Designation process. Under the FAST Act Section 1413, DOT designates national electric vehicle charging, hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling corridors to improve mobility of alternative fuel passenger and commercial vehicles. Any state or local agency is invited to nominate an alternative fuel corridor for designation. The solicitation deadline is January 31, 2019. For more information, including updated nomination criteria and instructions, see the FHWA Alternative Fuel Corridors website.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule identifying additional renewable fuel production pathways that can be used to produce qualifying renewable fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) program. The new pathways include distillers corn oil, distillers sorghum oil, and comingled distillers corn oil and distillers sorghum oil. Additionally, EPA removed non-food grade corn oil as an eligible renewable fuel production pathway. For more information, refer to the final rule and the RFS2 website.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a proposed rule, the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for MY 2021-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks, to retain light-duty MY 2020 Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and carbon dioxide standards though 2026. Additionally, EPA proposes to withdraw California's 2013 Clean Air Act waiver, which allows California's Advanced Clean Cars program to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG), low emission vehicle (LEV), and zero emission vehicle (ZEV) standards at a more stringent standard than EPA. EPA and NHTSA will accept comments until October 26, 2018. For more information, refer to the notice in the Federal Register, EPA's Safer and Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles Proposed Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 website, and NHTSA's SAFE website.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to establish new renewable fuel volume blending requirements and associated percentage standards under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) program. The proposed rule determines the amount of cellulosic biofuel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that obligated parties in the United States must blend into transportation fuel in 2019, and the volume requirements for biomass-based diesel in 2020. The 2019 proposed standards are 381 million gallons (0.209%) cellulosic biofuels; 4.88 billion gallons (2.67%) advanced biofuels; and 19.88 billion gallons (10.88%) total renewable fuels. The 2020 proposed volume requirement for biomass-based diesel is 2.43 billion gallons. EPA will accept comments on the proposed rule until August 17, 2018. For more information, refer to the notice in the Federal Register and the EPA Renewable Fuel Standard Program website.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a proposed waiver from Buy America requirements for 151 alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) projects. The waiver will enable Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) and other FHWA grant recipients and sub-recipients to use their federal funds for AFV projects as long as the vehicle or modification is assembled in the United States. Eligible projects would be required to meet conditions established in Title 23 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 635.410(c). For more information, including the list of vehicle and equipment projects subject to the proposed waiver, refer to the FHWA Notice of Buy America Waiver Request website and the Notice in the Federal Register.

In compliance with the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act Section 1413, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has completed a second round of designations of national electric vehicle charging, hydrogen, propane, and natural gas fueling corridors. The alternative fuel corridors are designated in strategic locations along major highways to improve the mobility of alternative fuel passenger and commercial vehicles. For more information, including a list of the designated corridor-ready and corridor-pending corridors, see the FHWA alternative fuel corridors page.