The National Biodiesel Board has launched a radio advertising campaign in six Midwestern states, urging President Donald Trump to keep his promise on the Renewable Fuel Standard. The ads will run for two weeks in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. The 30-second ads say, “EPA is threatening to grant more big oil handouts this year that reduce biodiesel …
Farmers and Ethanol Producers Defend Year Round E15
Ethanol producers and corn growers have provided support against the oil industry’s latest effort to undermine the expansion of E15 (gasoline containing 15% ethanol). The Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and National Corn Growers Association on Friday filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit supporting and defending EPA’s 2019 regulation allowing year-round availability of …
EPA Small Refinery Waiver Requests Nearing 100
The Environmental Protection Agency now has 98 requests for RFS Small Refinery Exemptions parked in its online dashboard for consideration. The agency has received another nine new small refinery exemption requests for previous years, along with three new current waiver petitions for 2019-2020. The prior year petitions include one each for 2011 and 2012, two each for the years 2013 …
Ethanol Report 8-14-20
In this episode of The Ethanol Report, we cover a number of different topics on the ethanol front. First, we head to South Dakota for the 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, where the Renewable Fuels Association once again provided free fuel and ethanol education for bikers, with the new addition of ethanol-based hand sanitizer as a giveaway. RFA’s Robert White, former …
EPA Reviewing RFS Gap Year Waiver Requests
During a visit to Wisconsin this week, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler was once again questioned about the status of so-called “gap year” waiver requests from refineries asking for relief from their Renewable Fuel Standard obligations from previous years. Because the petitions go back as much as eight years, Wheeler said he is not sure how long it will …
Senator Wants E15 Available Everywhere
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) is urging Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler to certify biofuel infrastructure for E15 and remove unnecessary labeling to increase consumer access to E15. In a letter to Administrator Wheeler, Ernst wrote, “Two years ago, I worked successfully with you and President Trump to get E15 sold year-round. One year later, we sat in the …
EPA Receives More Gap-Year Waiver Requests
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has updated its Small Refinery Exemption (SRE) dashboard, revealing six more retroactive “gap-year” petitions for compliance years 2011 through 2016 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), bringing the total now to 58. “We are already halfway through the year and instead of taking steps to comply with the January Tenth Circuit Court ruling to limit Small …
Corn and Ethanol Groups Challenge EPA to Correct Study
A coalition including the Urban Air Initiative (UAI), 10 state corn grower organizations and the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) are pressuring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to correct its recent “Anti-Backsliding” study. The coalition says the study is based on faulty modeling data that fails to recognize the role of ethanol in reducing pollution. The study is required under …
RFA Comments on EPA Anti-Backsliding Measure
The Renewable Fuels Association supports for the EPA’s proposal to determine that no additional measures are necessary to mitigate “potential adverse air quality impacts” associated with the Renewable Fuel Standard. At the same time, RFA’s comments on the Proposed Anti-Backsliding Determination for Renewable Fuels and Air Quality challenged the flawed air quality modeling and analysis conducted by EPA to inform …
ACE Disappointed With EPA Lack of Action
American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says he is disappointed in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to issue an interim final rule by July 1 to increase the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) for 2020 to ensure that the full 20.09 billion gallons required by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) are used due to the unanticipated drop …