ACE calls on EPA to implement Trump’s biofuel promises

In South Dakota, American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed supplemental rulemaking to the 2020 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

ACE CEO Brian Jennings detailed three areas in which the proposal falls short in ACE’s written comments, including the proposed rule (1) does nothing to reallocate the 85 Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) from 2016 through 2018 which eroded more than 4 billion gallons from statutory levels, (2) represents a missed opportunity to restore 500 million gallons unlawfully waived from the 2016 compliance year, and (3) betrays the deal on how to ensure at least 15 billion gallons in the RFS for 2020 and beyond.

ACE’s comments underscore that this proposal does not reflect the original deal, and rather, “in a classic bait and switch, EPA’s proposal brazenly attempts to paper over the fact that actual waived SRE volumes from 2016 through 2018 were double what the Agency is proposing to reallocate for 2020.”