A broad coalition of biofuel and farm advocates today sent a letter to the White House calling on President Trump to uphold his commitment to accurately account for refinery waivers and support the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The letter was signed by 60 organizations, including ethanol, biodiesel, corn and soybean groups on the state and national level. “Mr. President, we …
RFA Backs Up Claims of Waiver Damage to Ethanol Demand
As Mark Twain once said, “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.” During last week’s House Energy & Commerce Committee subcommittee hearing on the impact of small refinery exemptions, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President and CEO Chet Thompson sparred over the interpretation of recent Energy Information Association (EIA) data …
Ethanol Report on Hearing Highlights
Back to back hearings on topics related to small refinery exemptions under the Renewable Fuel Standard brought ethanol supporters out to explain how EPA’s abuse of the waivers is hurting farmers and producers and how the new proposed rule is insufficient to fix the problem. In this edition of The Ethanol Report, we hear from some of those who testified …
Ethanol Opportunities in West Africa
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Steve Censky is on a trade mission to West Africa this week to help United States exporters unlock new opportunities in a region where strong economic growth is driving demand for imported food and farm products, including ethanol. “Here in West Africa they are using another product as an octane enhancer rather than ethanol,” said …
Biofuels Groups Express Concerns at EPA Hearing
Representatives from multiple ethanol and biodiesel stakeholder organizations and companies delivered basically the same message to the Environmental Protection Agency during a hearing Wednesday on the proposal to make up for volumes lost under the Renewable Fuel Standard due to small refinery waivers – nice try, but you still need to follow the law. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig …
Biofuels Industry Testifies on Harm Done by RFS Waivers
Biofuels industry representatives testified during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing Tuesday on how the increase in small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard has hurt ethanol and biodiesel producers and farmers. “EPA’s secretive and underhanded approach to the SRE provision in recent years has destabilized the RFS, reduced the production and use of clean renewable biofuels, …
Biodiesel Foundation Receives Clean Diesel Project Grant
The National Biodiesel Foundation has been awarded U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funding for its 2020 National Clean Diesel Project. In partnership with Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT), Optimus Technologies, and Renewable Energy Group (REG), the project supports the purchase of three new replacement snowplows that will operate on B100 and retire older more polluting vehicles. It is the first …
New Court Docs Show EPA Abuse of Waivers
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) today highlighted newly available court documents which show how EPA “inappropriately granted Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance exemptions to certain small refineries that did not even qualify for the waivers, and that there was division within the Trump administration about its new approach to small refinery hardship exemption requests.” Specifically, the briefs and supporting documents …
Trump Praises Refinery Waivers
During a cabinet meeting on Monday, President Donald Trump praised EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler for making small refineries happy by granting them waivers from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “And I know you’re working on the small refineries — getting that straightened away so that it’s going to be terrific for the small refineries,” President Trump said to Wheeler. “They’ve …
USDA Deputy Reassures Senators About EPA Proposal
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a hearing Thursday to hear from USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky regarding implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill, but several senators were more concerned about the EPA supplemental proposal out this week. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) was first to ask about it. “I can just assure you directly from conversations with …