Under the law, EPA is able to propose a "reset" of RFS levels if biofuel targets spelled out in law are missed by more than 20 percent or more for two years in a row.
The two sources told the news service EPA is planning to "slash" the 2022 target to bring it closer to market realities, however, a figure has not been settled on.
The shortfalls in biofuels production have mostly been in the advanced and cellulosic biofuel categories while conventional ethanol production – primarily corn-based ethanol – has met the statutory targets.
EPA has proposed setting the cellulosic biofuel requirement at 381 million gallons in 2019 after having set it at 288 million gallons in 2018. Under the 2007 energy law, the requirement for cellulosic biofuel was to be at seven billion gallons for 2018 and 8.5 billion gallons for 2019.
For advanced biofuels, EPA has proposed a mark of 4.88 billion gallons for 2019 and set the level at 4.29 billion gallons for 2018. Under the 2007 energy law, the advanced biofuel level was to be 13 billion gallons for 2019 and 11 billion gallons for 2018.
Conventional biofuel, primarily corn-based ethanol, was capped at 15 billion gallons annually for 2018 through 2022.