The American Petroleum Institute says the Environmental Protection Agency “made the right call” to not reallocate volumes of biofuels displaced by hardship waivers from the Renewable Fuel Standard. The EPA volume proposal this week included a small overall increase, but kept conventional ethanol at 15 billion gallons for 2019. API made the comments while at the same time calling the RFS an example of “a broken government program.”
The proposal by the EPA followed a Reuters report that the EPA “consistently ignored” direction from the Department of Energy to restrict or reject the hardship waivers. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor says the waivers are “at odds” with the Department of Agriculture, President Trump, and now the Department of Energy. The ethanol industry contends the waivers are destructing demand, and the recent volume proposal for convention ethanol “isn’t a real number” because the EPA won’t make up lost volumes or stop the waivers.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.