Industry stakeholders reacted positively to the Trump Administration biofuels plan announced Friday, under which the Environmental Protection Agency will propose and request public comment on expanding biofuel requirements beginning in 2020 and on actions to ensure that more than 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol be blended into the nation’s fuel supply, and that the volume obligation for biomass-based diesel is met. While it promises to account for small refinery exemptions going forward, it does not make up for the millions of gallons already lost under the SREs that have already been granted.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper says the plan is “a crucial step toward repairing the damage done by EPA’s small refinery waivers and re-establishes the RFS as a driver of growth in the production and use of low carbon renewable fuels.”

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says it’s good EPA will account for waivers beginning in 2020 but bad that they are “doing nothing to reallocate the more than 4 billion gallons of RFS blending obligations waived for refineries from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 compliance years.”

National Biodiesel Board Vice President of Federal Affairs Kurt Kovarik says, “Proper accounting of the exemptions is vital to ensure that the annual RFS volumes send a reliable signal to biodiesel producers, who are making investments and plans for the future.”

The National Corn Growers Association President Kevin Ross, who personally spoke with President Trump when he visited an Iowa ethanol plant in June, thanked him for listening and putting the RFS back on track. “Corn farmers weren’t shy in telling the President that the impact of these waivers would lead to significant consequences for farmers, folks working at ethanol and biodiesel plants, and the countless other rural jobs that depend on this market.”

Ross participated in a press conference the day before the announcement was made last week, saying that all they were asking for is that EPA uphold the RFS.