Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate are urging the Biden administration “reject any actions under discussion to exempt oil refiners of their obligations under the RFS and uphold your commitment to combating climate change and supporting our nation’s farmers.”

Representatives Cindy Axne (D-IA), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Angie Craig (D-MN), and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led a letter with 12 bicameral colleagues to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Economic Council (NEC) expressing concern about reports that the Biden administration is considering several options to exempt oil refiners of their obligations under the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

“Rather than exempting refiners of their obligations under the Clean Air Act, the Administration should provide additional certainty and stability to the renewable fuels marketplace that will create jobs, drive investment, and cut carbon emissions from the existing vehicle fleet. We encourage your Administration to swiftly issue a proposed rule for the 2021 and 2022 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) with strong blending targets and respond to the 2017 Court remand in Americans for Clean Energy, et al., v. Environmental Protection Agency to reinstate 500 million gallons of blending requirements inappropriately waived from the 2016 blending targets,” the legislators wrote.

The letter was signed by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Representatives Mark Pocan (D-WI), Ron Kind (D-WI), David Scott (D-GA), Lauren Underwood (D-IL), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).