Bipartisan congresswomen lead 35 colleagues in letter to EPA over RVO concerns

In Washington, Congresswomen Ashley Hinson (R-IA-02) and Angie Craig (D-MN-02) led 35 of their colleagues in a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Regan expressing concern over the EPA’s proposed Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for advanced biofuels, and urging him to increase blending targets for advanced biofuels like biomass-based diesel.  

“We are concerned that the proposed RVOs for advanced biofuels, particularly biomass-based diesel, represent a step in the wrong direction and threaten to derail the significant progress made by the industry in recent years,” wrote the lawmakers in the letter.

“The biomass-based diesel industry supports over 75 thousand jobs and contributes over $23 billion to the American economy annually. If finalized, the proposed RVOs for biomass-based diesel would not only represent a missed opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it would also result in a negative economic impact for many farmers and rural communities,” they continued. “We urge you to increase blending targets for biomass-based diesel to levels that account for industry growth and will continue to encourage the production and use of these fuels, and importantly, that the overall renewable fuel totals are increased so the additional volume does not come at the expense of conventional biofuels.”