On Friday we reported on the lobbying effort by merchant refiners – and more specifically their labor unions – to get a waiver from the RFS. But Friday was also the day that the Administration released its regulatory agenda, which included the following regarding the RFS and biofuels: 2022 RVOs: The 2022, and 2021, required volume obligations (RVO) are teed up to move soon. The Proposed 2022 RVO is scheduled to come in July and targeted to be finalized to meet the 30 November deadline. Since the 2021 RVO was never issued due to the COVID pandemic and the 2020 election, that rule will have the retroactive volumes for 2021 (as happened in 2016 when the 2015 and 2014 RVOs were set retroactively at the volumes actually used). Whil...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.