OREANDA-NEWS. The US Environmental Protection Agency will sift through hundreds of thousands of comments on three years of federal biofuel mandates as the agency tries to get the controversial policy back on track.

The public comment period closed today on proposed minimum volumes of biofuels in the US transportation fuel supply for 2014, 2015 and 2016. The agency plans to finalize all three years, as well as biodiesel requirements for 2017, by the end of November.

The agency asked for "concise" comments on the three years of proposals after receiving more than 340,000 comments in 2014. More than 47,000 comments were in the federal system as of this morning, and biofuel supporters promised at least another 200,000 filed before the deadline.

EPA today maintained the comment would be reviewed and rules would be finalized by 30 November.

The Renewable Fuels Association insisted in 127 pages of comments that EPA increase "illegally curtailed" minimum blending volumes and consider carryover credits refiners, importers and other obligated parties can use to comply in the absence of physical biofuels. Reducing banked credits now would require greater physical blending in the future.

Supporters continued to criticize EPA's decision to reduce volumes in light of a lack of infrastructure to distribute and consume higher volumes of alternative fuels.

"The longer you mess with the volumes, the harder it will be for the industry to comply," wrote a South Dakota resident.

Oil companies, meanwhile, said volumes remained too high and ignored stronger demand for ethanol-free gasoline by boaters, motorcyclists and other small engine groups. Mass mailings and individual pleas from those groups marked much of the early comment filed in opposition to the rule.

"I am convinced the whole ethanol thing is the result of bending to the power of the agricultural lobby," wrote a Georgia boat owner.

EPA's proposal sets a retroactive 2014 blending requirement of 15.93bn USG and 2015 blending requirement of 16.3bn USG of biodiesel, ethanol and other biofuels in the US transportation fuel supply. The agency shocked the biofuel industry in 2013 with a proposal that for the first time cited a lack of fuel infrastructure and compatible vehicles — the ability to distribute and consume higher-biofuel blends — as a reason for mandated volumes below those proposed by Congress in 2007.