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6/17/2021 House passes Ruggiero bill to increase use of cleaner-burning biodiesel in home heating oil
STATE HOUSE – The House today approved legislation sponsored by Rep. Deborah Ruggiero to phase in significantly higher percentages of cleaner-burning biodiesel in home heating oil sold in the state.

Biodiesel is a fuel made from vegetable oils such as used cooking oil and soy byproducts. It must meet standards and is blended with petroleum heating oil to burn cleaner and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It requires no alteration to existing heating equipment.

Rhode Island already requires heating oil to be sold as a mix that contains 5 percent biodiesel. That requirement was phased in between 2014 and 2017 under legislation that Representative Ruggiero cosponsored in 2013.

The legislation (2021-H 5132A) passed by the House today will phase in higher percentages of biodiesel or renewable hydrocarbon diesel blended into home heating oil. The bill requires home heating oil to be 10% biodiesel or renewable hydrocarbon diesel in 2023, 20% in 2025 and 50% in 2030. Renewable hydrocarbon diesel is made from the same vegetable oils as biodiesel, but through a different process that requires higher pressures and temperatures. Some large refineries are being converted to make renewable hydrocarbon diesel.

“Every gallon of biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% when compared to a gallon of petroleum heating oil. A blend of 15% biodiesel burns cleaner and has more greenhouse gas reductions than natural gas,” said Representative Ruggiero (D-Dist. 74, Jamestown, Middletown). “Local leaders in the heating oil industry helped develop this bill, because they understand that in order to stay in business today, they need to modernize and eliminate their carbon intensity by doing what’s right for healthy outcomes for all of us. When people build homes they can go with gas or electric, but with biodiesel blends, home heating oil burns more efficiently and cleaner.” 

The legislation now goes to the Senate, where Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, South Kingstown, New Shoreham) is sponsoring companion legislation (2021-S 0357).

According to the Oil Heat Institute of Rhode Island, in 2017, the existing 5-percent requirement resulted in the use of 12 million gallons of biodiesel being blended into heating oil in the state, diverting cooking oil and other byproducts from landfills and reducing our reliance on petroleum products by 12 million gallons. About one-third of Rhode Island homes rely on oil heat.

Switching to higher concentrations of biodiesel in home heating oil will help Rhode Island achieve the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals, established through the Act on Climate passed earlier this year. Those goals are to reach emissions that are 10 percent below 1990 levels this year, 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2040 and net-zero by 2050. Approximately 35% of Rhode Island’s greenhouse gas emissions are from heating.

Enacting the bill would keep Rhode Island in step with neighboring states. Connecticut’s lawmakers passed similar legislation this week, and Massachusetts has an incentive that currently results in much of its home heating oil supply being sold at a 10-percent blend.

“Biodiesel is the future of home heating oil, and with this legislation we are ensuring that Rhode Island shifts toward greater use of this cleaner fuel,” said Representative Ruggiero. “The bill has been three years of work with heating oil industry, environmental groups, and the Department of Environmental Management, and it represents a direction that our state needs to take to reduce our impact on climate change, without requiring homeowners to make any changes to their home heating systems.”

The House bill is cosponsored by Rep. Lauren H. Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport), Rep. Jason Knight (D-Dist. 67, Barrington, Warren) and Rep. Marvin L. Abney (D-Dist. 75, Newport, Middletown).



For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923