The EPA released a draft plan that they claim was designed to address the demand destruction caused by refinery exemptions from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Below are some reactions from leaders in the farm and biofuel community.
Quote from Kevin Ross, President of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA):
National Corn Growers Association President Kevin Ross today made the below statement following the release of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supplemental proposal to the 2020 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) rulemaking. The proposed rule follows an announcement from President Trump last week directing the EPA to follow the letter of the law and keep the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) whole.
“While corn farmers appreciate the EPA’s intent to follow Department of Energy recommendations on waivers going forward, the proposed rule fails to provide the assurance needed that EPA’s practices for granting waivers will change going forward. Farmers have long been skeptical of the EPA’s administration of the RFS. This proposal doesn’t provide farmers confidence in EPA’s ability to follow through and make this right. President Trump made a commitment to farmers and instructed the EPA to follow the law, but this proposal appears to come up short again.”
Quote from Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy:
“It is unconscionable that EPA’s proposal betrays President Trump’s promise to rural America. A week ago, Administrator Wheeler personally took to the airwaves and promised Iowa farmers that he would accurately account for lost gallons moving forward based on the ‘last three years of the waivers.’ Administration officials repeatedly said that 15 billion gallons will mean 15 billion gallons and this proposal fails to ensure that farm families and biofuel producers have the certainty they need to reinvest and rebuild after three years of massive demand destruction at the hands of EPA. After completely ignoring Department of Energy (DOE) advice to reduce exemptions, EPA now proposes to use DOE’s deflated numbers to turn a real fix into little more than a Band-Aid. To effectively address demand destruction moving forward, EPA’s fix must incorporate a projection of actual exempted gallons, not simply apply an out-of-date DOE recommendation. The proposal released today will do nothing to bring back the ethanol plants that have shut down or help the burden that many of our corn farmers currently face. Every day that passes without the true solution President Trump promised means more and more pain for America’s farmers and rural workers.”
Quote from Geoff Cooper, President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA):
“If the Oct. 4 announcement from EPA was a big step forward, today’s supplemental proposal is a step backward. It falls short of delivering on President Trump’s pledge to restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard and leaves farmers, ethanol producers, and consumers with more questions than answers. It is baffling to us that the proposal sets the three-year average of exempted volume using the very same DOE recommendations that EPA blatantly ignored over and over. We are concerned that the volume of actual exemptions granted in 2020 could very well exceed the amount of projected exemptions from DOE, putting us right back into the quagmire where the 15-billion-gallon requirement is eroded and undermined. Simply put, this proposal is not what was promised by the administration just over a week ago and fails to answer President Trump’s personal call for a stronger conventional biofuel requirement of more than 15 billion. It is our hope that President Trump will personally intervene again to get the RFS back on track and ensure his EPA honors the commitments that were made.”
Quote from Jim Greif, President of the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA):
“Today, we are outraged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not implement the details that were presented and outlined by the President only eleven days ago. Any proposal that does not account for actual waived gallons under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) fails to restore the integrity of the law. Last week President Trump promised to uphold the Congressional intent of the RFS by addressing the demand destruction brought on by expanded use of small refinery exemptions and prospectively account for those exemptions using a three-year rolling average of actual waived gallons, beginning with the 2020 biofuel standard. Today’s announcement falls well short of that mark, only accounting for the Department of Energy recommendations that the EPA itself ignored. The Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) will continue to fight back on demand destruction with our biofuels champions and President Trump to ensure the final 2020 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) reflect the commitments made by the President to restore the integrity of the RFS to the benefit of farmers and consumers everywhere.”
Quote from Monte Shaw, Executive Director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA):
“IRFA members continue to stand by President Trump’s strong biofuels deal announced on Oct. 4, which was worked out with our elected champions and provided the necessary certainty that 15 billion gallons would mean 15 billion gallons, even after accounting for SREs. Unfortunately, only 11 days after President Trump’s landmark announcement, the EPA proposal reneges on the core principal of the deal. Instead of standing by President Trump’s transparent and accountable deal, EPA is proposing to use heretofore secret DOE recommendations that EPA doesn’t have to follow. That means there is no guarantee that RFS exemptions will be accounted for in the RFS. Instead, the proposal today essentially asks Iowa farmers and biofuels producers to trust that EPA will do the right thing on SREs in 2021 when they have spent the last two years weaponizing SREs to unfairly undermine the RFS. It is unreasonable and counterproductive to expect Iowans to put their faith in EPA to fix the SRE problem when they were the ones who created the crisis in the first place. As this proposal goes against the core of President Trump’s deal that we continue to support, we will work with our elected champions and the President to get the deal he proposed, and we all celebrated, back on track. There must be certainty that 15 billion gallons will mean 15 billion gallons to restore integrity to the RFS.”
Quote from Grant Kimberley, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB):
“On behalf of Iowa’s biodiesel producers, we are deeply concerned by EPA’s new proposal to address renewable fuel gallons lost through refinery exemptions to the RFS. The solution President Trump previously promised us would have estimated future exempted RFS volumes based on the average of actual volumes exempted over the past three years. That is the remedy we need to steady the renewable fuels market, help plants re-open their doors, and infuse rural economies still in crisis. This new plan from EPA appears to be a dramatic departure from the agreement struck with the President, and we expect markets to react accordingly. This is likely to inflict further damage on the already struggling biodiesel industry and farm economy. We will join our Iowa political champions, the National Biodiesel Board and other groups in scrutinizing this new proposal, and in ensuring the final rule fulfills the deal President Trump agreed to earlier this very month.”
Quote from Kurt Kovarik, Vice President of Federal Affairs for the National Biodiesel Board (NBB):
"The notice that EPA issued today is significantly different from the agreement that biofuel industry champions negotiated with President Trump just two weeks ago, which was to estimate future exempted RFS volumes based on the average of actual volumes exempted over the past three years. EPA is proposing a brand-new method for making the estimate – one that was never previously proposed or discussed and significantly undercounts past exemptions. Once again, EPA is sending a signal to the biofuel industry that the volumes it sets in annual rules can't be trusted. The proposed estimates lack transparency and undercut the President's commitment to ensure that biomass-based diesel volumes are fully met. The biodiesel industry will work diligently with all appropriate federal agencies to ensure that the final rule scrupulously fulfills President Trump's promise to soybean farmers and biodiesel producers."
Quote from Tim Bardole, President of the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA):
“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has once again broken its promise to restore the integrity of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Today’s announcement backtracks on a pledge by President Trump to ensure future Renewable Volume Obligations would account for Small Refinery Exemptions (SRE) based on a three-year rolling average of past waivers. This previously agreed-upon proposal would provide certainty to a struggling biodiesel industry including refineries and farmers. Rather than restoring biodiesel demand based on the actual lost gallons, the EPA says it will look at past recommendations from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The EPA consistently ignored DOE recommendations for years under the current administration. Today’s announcement further erodes farmer confidence in the administration’s ability to bring closure to the all-important issue of biofuels and its place in America’s energy future. With today’s proposal, countless farm families and biodiesel producers will continue to face lost income and further job cuts. More facilities will close as a result of the continued inaction and the economic losses it creates. The EPA must uphold the administration’s commitment to restore demand based on the actual three-year SRE average, beginning with the 2020 biofuel standard and years to follow. The already-waning vitality of America’s rural communities cannot afford to keep playing regulatory games with the EPA. ISA will continue to engage our elected champions, Senators Grassley and Ernst, Governor Reynolds and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig to ensure a victory for Iowa’s soybean farmers.”