A bipartisan group of 36 senators has petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase biodiesel production in the pending Renewable Fuel Standard for 2016 and 2017.

The EPA's current proposal, which should be finalized in November, will increase the volume of biodiesel blended with conventional diesel to 1.9 billion gallons by 2017, Biodiesel Magazine reported. The group of petitioning senators that includes presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has requested increasing biodiesel volume to 2 billion gallons in 2016 and 2.3 billion gallons in 2017, according to a letter the senators wrote to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and other administration officials.

The Renewable Fuels Standard, which Congress passed in 2005 and strengthened in 2007, requires specific volumes of alterative fuels to be blended in gasoline and diesel sold in the U.S.

The use of biodiesel in the U.S. is "creating jobs, generating tax revenues, reducing pollution, and improving energy security," the senators wrote.