The president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) says they are very pleased with the decision today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reject a request to waive the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

In an interview immediately after the announcement was made by EPA, Bob Dinneen said he gave the agency credit for sticking to the science and doing sound analysis on the issue. “I was somewhat surprised that the petitioners never really presented EPA with a lot of analysis,” said Dinneen. “That was telling me all along that this was more about politics than about substance.”

Dinneen said the industry has maintained all along that it was not the RFS that caused higher prices for livestock feed this year. “It’s Mother Nature – it was this drought – and what we ought to be doing it sitting down and having a more constructive discussion about (this).”

Dinneen notes that the market has responded to the higher corn prices and lower supply. “The ethanol industry is down about 11 or 12% in terms of our production, our corn consumption, and you’re seeing exports being reduced some, other industrial uses being reduced some, and feeders looking for other sources of feed,” he said.

The ethanol industry is anticipating that the RFS will continue to face challenges by the oil industry and others opposed to the use of corn ethanol. “I don’t believe that they will be successful because in any objective review of this program, it has been an unmitigated success,” said Dinneen.

Listen to this edition of the Ethanol Report with Bob Dinneen. Ethanol Report on RFS Waiver Denial

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