Biofuels industry teams on letter to Trump demanding quick action to stop EPA tearing down RFS

October 3, 2017 |

In Washington, the National Biodiesel Board, the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, the American Biogas Council, the American Coalition for Ethanol, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Growth Energy, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Farmers Union and the Renewable Fuels Association sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging the White House to “act quickly to prevent actions” at the U.S. EPA that threaten jobs in rural America, freeze innovation in advanced biofuels and undermine the energy security goals of America’s Renewable Fuel Standard.

“The proposed changes are inconsistent with the law and threaten the growth and prosperity of the U.S. biofuels industry,” the letter reads. “EPA’s changes are also inconsistent with Administrator Pruitt’s assurances to uphold the law and your long-standing support of ethanol and the RFS. If the proposed changes are finalized, EPA’s actions would cause severe harm to our industry, undermining your efforts to drive economic growth and secure America’s status as the global leader in biofuel production.”

In the letter, industry leaders called on the White House to halt EPA consideration of “drastic, unprecedented changes” designed to benefit the same petroleum refiners that have repeatedly sought to curtail the growth of homegrown fuels. Specifically, the EPA issued a proposal that slashed EPA staff recommendations for higher cellulosic targets, published a Notice of Data Availability aimed at cutting total biofuel volumes including advanced and biodiesel, and may be considering Valero’s scheme to flood the market with export-subsidy credits, a move that would immediately devalue biofuel blends.

Category: Policy

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