On Aug. 20, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice requesting public comment on two gubernatorial letters seeking a waiver of the volume requirements of the renewable fuel standard (RFS). Following letters from the governors of Arkansas and North Carolina calling on EPA to waive a portion of the RFS under section 211(o)(7) of the Clean Air Act (Feedstuffs, Aug. 20), the notice is the first step in the agency's statutory obligations to respond to the waiver request. According to the agency, under statute EPA must decide on a waiver request within 90 days of receiving it, in consultation with the Departments of Agriculture and Energy. “Yesterday, EPA issued a Federal Register notice opening a 30-day public comment period on requests from the governors of Arkansas and North Carolina to waive the RFS requirements,” said agency spokesman Alisha Johnson. “This notice is in keeping with EPA's commitment to an open and transparent process to evaluate requests the agency receives under the Clean Air Act, and does not indicate any predisposition to a specific decision.” (more) Aug. 21, 2012 Feedstuffs