Over 100 biofuels supporters were in Kansas City today for a public hearing on the EPA’s proposed volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Chuck has been on the ground there all day along with farmers and representatives from agricultural and biofuels organizations.
Up on the first panel was Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen who had strong words for the EPA.
“We encourage EPA to truly put the RFS ‘back on track’ and finalize the 2017 conventional renewable fuel renewable volume obligation (RVO) at the 15-billion-gallon statutory level. EPA’s proposed rule for the 2017 RVOs marks an improvement over the final rule for 2014-2016 RVOs, but it ultimately falls victim to the same legal malady that plagued your last rulemaking,” Dinneen testified. “Simply put, EPA continues to allege that ‘supply’ somehow equates to the capacity to distribute or consume renewable fuels. However, the statute does not allow EPA to consider imagined constraints on distribution when deciding whether to utilize a general waiver of the volumes. The intent of Congress was abundantly clear: if the physical supply of renewable fuel exists to satisfy statutory volumes, then EPA must enforce the consumption of those volumes. And it is beyond dispute that the industry is providing an adequate supply to meet the statutory mandate for conventional biofuels.”
Listen to Dinneen’s full testimony statement here: RFA CEO Bob Dinneen EPA hearing testimony
Check out the EPA Hearing Photo Album.
