Thanks to the sharp eyes and quick reporting of Ben Geman at Greenwire (subscription required), we now know that OMB has finally released EPA's proposed RFS2 rule back to EPA. This means that once EPA addresses OMB's comments and the Administrator signs the proposed rule, it can go out for public comment. So an NPRM maybe middle of next week?
My understanding is that EPA's rule is intact complete with their proposed approach to measuring land-use emissions. As I've written about before, EPA came under intense pressure from factions of the biofuels industry during the OMB review process to gut or jettison the land-use emissions accounting.
Apparently, Administrator Lisa Jackson was unyielding in her commitment to proposing a complete rule and her support of all the hard work of her staff. What a difference and election makes, eh?