EPA Chief Wheeler Will Not Resign

Cindy Zimmerman

Photo provided by MS Farm Bureau

During an agricultural event in Mississippi on Monday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler said he will not resign from the Trump Administration.

“I was disgusted by the events of last Wednesday,” he said in answer to a reporter’s question. “I believe in the best interests of the agency, in order to ensure a smooth transition to my successors, it’s important for me to stay on.”

Wheeler was in Mississippi to announce a $2 million dollar initiative that encourages smart and sustainable pest control in agriculture. The initiative, which is an extension of EPA’s Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP), expects to award grantees up to $200,000 to implement sustainable pest management practices that align with the agency’s goal of providing a healthier environment for all Americans.

“EPA wants farmers to choose what they can use in their fields and not have it chosen for them,” said Wheeler.

Listen to Wheeler’s remarks and press questions here:
EPA chief Andrew Wheeler in Mississippi (15:28)

Audio, EPA

Supreme Court Will Hear RFS Waiver Case

Cindy Zimmerman

Late Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the 10th Circuit Court decision made a year ago this month that invalidated several small refinery exemptions issued by EPA under the Renewable Fuel Standard. The decision is in response to a petition submitted in September by HollyFrontier Corporation and CVR Energy, two of the refineries named in the case.

The 10th Circuit Court decided unanimously in favor of the petitioners – the Renewable Fuels Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, and American Coalition for Ethanol – determining that EPA abused its authority by granting small refinery exemptions that were not extensions of previously existing exemptions. In April, the Tenth Circuit denied the refiners’ request to re-hear the case.

When the refiners petitioned the Supreme Court in September, the biofuels coalition said there was no reason for further review or consideration of the ruling. “It is well-reasoned and based on a plain reading of the Clean Air Act, which clearly intended small refinery exemptions to be temporary and used only as a ‘bridge to compliance’ for certain eligible small refineries. Additionally, there are no conflicting decisions in other federal courts of appeal.”

No date was set for oral arguments.

ACE, Biodiesel, biofuels, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NFU, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Gov. Reynolds to Address Virtual 2021 Iowa RFA Summit

Cindy Zimmerman

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds will once again join other biofuel supporters from around the country at the Virtual Iowa Renewable Fuel Summit to look back on past obstacles overcome and future growth opportunities within the state for biofuels.

“Governor Kim Reynolds has been a true champion for biofuels and has taken every opportunity to seek growth opportunities for ethanol and biodiesel,” Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw said. “We look forward to hearing her thoughts on a path forward for biofuels in 2021.”

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit is taking place on January 26th and is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register to attend and learn more, visit IowaRenewableFuelsSummit.org.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Iowa RFA, IRFA Renewable Fuels Summit

Groups Reject EPA Excuse for Non-Compliance with Court Order

Cindy Zimmerman

Farm and biofuel organizations are rejecting the Environmental Protection Agency‘s excuses for failure to comply with a 2017 court order invalidated the agency’s improper waiver of 500 million gallons for 2016.

The coalition, which includes the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, National Biodiesel Board, American Coalition for Ethanol, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, and National Sorghum Producers, this week filed its reply in support of its motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia.

“EPA should not be allowed to hide behind claims that restoring 500 million improperly waived gallons is an administrative burden that would inconvenience oil industry interests. What’s at stake is the proper implementation of the RFS and the rural communities that rely on its success for their livelihood. As we have made clear, EPA has had the ability and the authority to do the right thing and remedy these lost gallons immediately and on a definite schedule. EPA’s delay and disregard for the court’s directive for more than three years is inexcusable.”

The motion asks the court to enforce its 2017 decision requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address its improper waiver of 500 million gallons of biofuel demand in the 2016 renewable volume obligation (RVO). The reply brief filed this week reasserts that “EPA’s delays in remedying the improper waiver are unreasonable and confirms that the court has the authority to require EPA to issue a 500 million gallon “curative obligation” to make up lost gallons, and to do it now.”

In the July 2017 ruling of the case Americans for Clean Energy et al. v. EPA et al., the court invalidated the EPA’s improper waiver of 500 million gallons in the 2016 RVO and ordered EPA to revisit the rule. The court held that EPA’s interpretation of the “inadequate domestic supply” waiver provision “runs contrary to how the Renewable Fuel Program is supposed to work.” To date, EPA has failed to open any proceedings to reconsider the 2016 RVO and has not restored the 500 million lost RIN gallons.

ACE, Biodiesel, biofuels, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy, NBB, NCGA, NFU, sorghum

EPA Proposes Consent Decree for One Refinery Waiver

Cindy Zimmerman

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency published a notice of proposed consent decree and request for public comment in the Federal Register to settle a 2019 refinery waiver petition by February 19.

United Refinery filed a complaint against EPA in July 2020 alleging that the agency “failed to take final action on its petition for a small refinery hardship exemption from its 2019 obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) program established by the Clean Air Act.” The proposed consent decree would establish a deadline for EPA to act on the petition. The EPA SRE dashboard currently shows 32 requests for 2019 and 14 for 2020 that have not been answered.

Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received by February 3, 2021.

EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Groups Want Transparency in SRE Process

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Growth Energy filed a joint FOIA request Tuesday calling on the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy to release the names and locations of refineries granted exemptions from their Renewable Fuel Standard obligations.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper and Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor offered the following joint statement on the filing: “The public has a right to know which companies are receiving waivers from their Clean Air Act obligations and skirting requirements to blend cleaner, greener renewable fuels like ethanol. It is disingenuous for EPA to suggest that the names and locations of the exempted refineries constitute confidential business information, especially when the Agency itself has twice proposed to publicly disclose this information. We will not stop our efforts to bring transparency to this process until the shroud of secrecy has been lifted on the small refinery exemption program.”

The dispute centers on EPA’s refusal to provide certain basic information about refinery exemptions as requested by RFA and Growth Energy under the federal Freedom of Information Act. EPA incorrectly claims that even the names and locations of refineries receiving waivers are protected because they constitute “commercial or financial information obtained from a person [that is] privileged or confidential.” But RFA and Growth Energy have simply requested the names and locations of the refineries petitioning for exemptions, not any commercial information or financial data that might otherwise be exempt from public disclosure under FOIA.

“Although EPA shares the aggregate number of exemptions it has decided to grant or deny, its withholding of the basic information regarding individual exemption decisions sought here has made it difficult or impossible for affected third parties (such as Plaintiffs) to challenge its exemption decisions,” RFA and Growth Energy state in the court filing. “EPA has relieved scores of refineries of their statutory compliance obligations without any public process, leaving Plaintiffs and other affected entities ‘without a viable avenue for judicial review.’”

EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Author and Energy Expert Daniel Yergin to Headline NEC

Cindy Zimmerman

Pulitzer Prize winning author and energy expert Daniel Yergin will be a keynote speaker at the 26th annual National Ethanol Conference. Dr. Yergin will speak the morning of Wednesday, February 17, with a presentation titled, “The New Map: Energy and Geopolitics Coming Out of the Pandemic.”

“Dr. Yergin’s appearance at the NEC will be especially timely this year, as the geopolitical landscape continues to shift, climate policies are rapidly reshaping fuel markets, and the energy sector continues to recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID pandemic,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper.

Currently the vice chairman of IHS Markit, one of the leading information and advisory firms in the world with 16,000 employees worldwide, Dr. Yergin has served on the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board under Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump. He is a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and a trustee of the Brookings Institution, serving also on the Energy Advisory Council of the Dallas Federal Reserve.

As an exclusive benefit for participating in this year’s NEC, all registered attendees will receive a copy of Dr. Yergin’s newest book, 2020’s The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations. It has been selected as one of the Best Books of the Year by both USA Today and NPR, and The Book of the Year by Bloomberg Surveillance

Taking place digitally February 16-18, 2021, the National Ethanol Conference is the most widely attended executive-level conference for the ethanol industry. For more information, visit www.NationalEthanolConference.com.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Nuseed Carinata Feedstock Grows Global Potential

Cindy Zimmerman

The global potential for Nuseed’s Carinata as a renewable fuel feedstock is advancing with the harvest of a commercial crop currently underway in Argentina and of Nuseed R&D trial plots in Southern France.

“The Nuseed Carinata R&D plots show good potential, growing Nuseed Carinata hybrids between rotations in the same region as Europe’s largest biofuel producers would be a huge benefit,” said Alex Clayton, Nuseed Global Business Development Leader, Carinata. “The work we are doing now is the start of a strategy that will help ensure Nuseed Carinata hybrids grow well in what are typically unproductive periods in the crop cycle for growers in the EU.”

Nuseed is advancing Carinata hybrids that produce excellent non-food oil for renewable fuels and non-GM high protein meal for livestock feed, plus agronomic advantages including the huge biomass above ground and extensive root system. It’s the Nuseed Carinata plant structure that substantially removes carbon from the air where it’s harmful and sequesters it to where it’s desperately needed to improve soil health.

Carinata is an oilseed crop that is drought resistant, heat and frost tolerant, and can be refined into diesel and jet fuel, as well as a high protein meal for animal feed. The crop is currently being produced in the United States in two main production regions – the Southeast (GA, FL, AL, MS) and the Northern Plains (SD, ND, MT, NE).

Biodiesel, feedstocks, International

RFA Celebrating Four Decades in 2021

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is celebrating its 40th anniversary of biofuels policy leadership all year in 2021.

RFA was created in 1981 by a small group of innovative farmers and business leaders with the ambitious goal of growing production and demand for ethanol, a relatively unknown renewable fuel that was cleaner-burning, homegrown, and environmentally friendly. Four decades later, the U.S. ethanol industry has grown into a thriving and dynamic renewable energy powerhouse, and RFA continues to build upon the vision, leadership, and ingenuity of its founders.

“It’s no mistake that RFA has been nicknamed ‘the voice of the ethanol industry.’ In many ways, the story of RFA is the story of the ethanol industry itself,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. Since the founding of the organization, U.S. ethanol production has grown nearly 16,000 percent, from about 100 million gallons to the record high of 16.1 billion in 2018.

Through various publications and activities, RFA will celebrate its 40th anniversary all year long in 2021. The association will look back on the milestones of an industry that grew from just a handful of small plants in a few Corn Belt states to more than 200 sophisticated, high-tech biorefineries nationwide. Today’s ethanol industry supports almost 350,000 jobs and contributes more than $40 billion to the nation’s economy each year, a far cry from its humble beginnings.

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

RFA Shares In and Out List for 2021

Cindy Zimmerman

Once again, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Senior Strategic Advisor Bob Dinneen has prepared his annual tongue-in-cheek list of what’s out and what’s in as we begin this new year ever hopeful that brighter, healthier, and more prosperous days lie ahead.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA