WASHINGTON — Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC) Executive Director Brooke Coleman released the following statement today in response to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) releasing its proposed Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2014, 2015 and 2016. "The good news is it is clear that EPA and the Obama Administration want to send a signal to the marketplace that domestic renewable fuel markets are going to grow. The blending targets are definitely stronger and theoretically create new markets. And the blender pump program shepherded by Secretary Vilsack, if implemented the right way, could create more market access for renewable fuels. But Clean Air Act regulations have to have backbone to actually achieve their ambitions, and EPA is still allowing the oil industry's refusal to comply with the RFS to be cause to slow the program down. If the Obama Administration continues to reward non-compliance with clean energy laws, clean energy laws will cease to be effective. "There is a reason that oil champions in Congress tried and failed to get renewable fuel distribution-related waivers written into the law in 2005. Oil companies control distribution and would therefore control the RFS. While this is just a proposal, we still have to convince the Obama Administration to put the backbone back into the law. We do not believe that President Obama wants to be remembered as the president who made a landmark Clean Air Act climate change program voluntary."
