By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 1, 2022, a 15-day public comment period on two additional peer review candidates for the external peer review of the Biofuels and the Environment: Third Triennial Report to Congress (RtC3). 87 Fed. Reg. 46958. EPA previously requested comment on an initial pool of 20 candidates announced in a May 9, 2022, Federal Register notice. EPA states that after considering public comments and the balance and collective expertise of the reviewers, it asked ERG, the independent contractor organizing the peer review, to identify additional candidates to strengthen expertise gaps and allow a more balanced panel. EPA seeks public comment on additional peer review candidates to strengthen underrepresented areas of expertise, specifically economics, water quality, and ecology disciplines. According to EPA, ERG will ensure the peer reviewers’ combined expertise best spans the following disciplines: economics, engineering, agronomics, land use change, remote sensing, air quality, biogeochemistry, water quality, hydrology, conservation biology, limnology, and ecology. Comments are due August 16, 2022.
 
The first report to Congress (RtC1), completed in 2011, provided an assessment of the environmental and resource conservation impacts associated with increased biofuel production and use. The second report to Congress (RtC2) was completed in 2018 and reaffirmed the overarching conclusions of RtC1. RtC3 builds on the previous two reports and provides an update on the impacts to date of the RFS Program on the environment. It assesses air, water, and soil quality; ecosystem health and biodiversity; and other effects. RtC3 also includes new analyses not previously included in RtC1 and RtC2.