The Renewable Fuels Association today thanked a group of Senators representing Midwest states for their comments to the Environmental Protection Agency supporting the Renewable Fuel Standard. The Senators—Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-S.D.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.)—each submitted comments regarding the EPA's supplemental rule on the RFS and individual letters to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, in which they expressed concerns about the way the agency would calculate the reallocation of renewable fuel gallons lost due to exemptions for oil refineries. RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper made the following statement: "Farmers, ethanol producers and consumers across the country are grateful to these Senators who are standing up for the integrity of the Renewable Fuels Standard. The RFS has been a tremendous success, lowering consumer gasoline costs, providing a critical value-added market for farmers, and reducing carbon emissions from liquid transportation fuels. But then EPA began to systematically undermine the benefits of the program with unprecedented and unnecessary small refinery exemptions (SREs) that have eroded biofuel demand and sacrificed the energy, environmental, and consumer benefits of the program. It's time for the EPA to simply follow the law. Fifteen billion gallons is supposed to mean at least 15 billion gallons. That's what the President intended when he directed EPA to fix the SRE problem a month ago. The only path to restore credibility to this process is for the EPA to project SREs based on the actual exemptions granted in the past three years. Anything else is a broken promise that will kill more jobs and keep plants shuttered. We are proud to have these Senators on our side, and we thank them for their leadership." Click here for the Senators' joint release.
