Coalition forms to work with EPA on eRINS program

A coalition of more than 20 organizations and companies launched the Partnership for Electric Pathways (PEP) to work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to secure a viable pathway for renewable electricity to get credit under EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.

“We steadfastly support EPA’s most recent proposal to effectuate the agency’s 2010 and 2014 regulations to allow for electricity derived from eligible biomass resources to qualify as RFS renewable fuel,” PEP says in a letter sent to EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Our consortium includes a range of entities involved in producing and using electricity to power electric vehicles—throughout the value chain. This coalition also includes existing RIN [renewable identification number] generators and RFS compliance entities. We share the common goals of reducing emissions, capturing waste and decarbonizing transportation while growing the American workforce.”

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The EPA’s proposed 2022 electric pathway framework regulations would have allowed for electricity derived from eligible biomass resources and used to power electric vehicles to qualify as renewable fuel and obtain credits called eRINs, the coalition says. This would create manifold benefits to U.S. sustainability and energy security goals, including providing an incentive for landfills and farms to capture methane that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere, increasing and diversifying domestic fuel options, supporting the deployment of electric vehicles and renewing local waste facilities.

The following companies and organizations are initial members of the PEP coalition:

• Alliance for Automotive Innovation
• Ameresco
• American Biogas Council
• American Honda Motor
• Anew Climate
• Audi of America
• Biomass Power Association
• Bp
• Bridge to Renewables
• Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas
• DTE Vantage
• EDL Energy
• Electric Drive Transportation Association
• Ford Motor Co.
• General Motors
• Hyundai Motor America
• Kia Corp.
• Lucid Motors
• Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc.
• National Milk Producers Federation
• NextEra Renewable Fuels
• Nissan North America
• Opal Fuels
• RFS Power Coalition
• Rivian
• Toyota Motor North America
• Volkswagen Group of America
• Volvo Car USA
• WM
  

Earlier this year, the EPA said it was working to develop an eRINS program, but Republican members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee sent a letter to the EPA in April questioning whether including electricity in the RFS is a good idea.

“Our goal is to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, available, reliable and secure energy,” write the eight committee members. “The final design of the eRINs program under the RFS inserts uncertainty into the transportation fuels market. It could create new economic opportunities for parties that service the electricity distribution sector and certain renewable fuels producers, or it could create regulatory barriers that would negatively impact American companies and complicate consumers’ ability to access the fuels they need for the lives they live.”

For more information about PEP, send a message to info@electricpathways.org.