With the Senate poised to confirm Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Iowa has a message for him – Don’t Mess with the RFS.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) and other state organizations urged Pruitt to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by rejecting a petition to change the program’s point of obligation, which would change the RFS obligated parties from mostly large petroleum refiners to many fuel retailers. “We have a slogan in the renewable fuels family that says ‘Don’t mess with the RFS,’” said IRFA Executive Director Monte Shaw. “Let me make this perfectly clear: changing the point of obligation is most definitely messing with the RFS in a significantly harmful manner. Iowa’s ethanol and biodiesel producers oppose it and will fight hard to defeat it.”

Under the Obama Administration, the EPA proposed to reject the request, but the public comment period on the proposed rejection is still open meaning the final decision will be up to President Donald Trump’s EPA. Iowa entities urging Pruitt to finalize the pending rejection include Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA), Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA), Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa (PMCI), Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB), Truckstops of Iowa, and Kum & Go.