Iowa’s congressional delegation is gearing up for another lobbying campaign in support of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Good for them. Created in 2005, the federal RFS requires transportation fuel sold in the U.S. to be blended with a minimum volume of renewable fuels. Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to lower the RFS for this year and next year by a combined nine billion gallons below the levels set by Congress because it doesn’t believe the biofuels industry can meet the more aggressive targets.
"EPA has to be given some credit for attempting to get the RFS back on track by increasing the renewable volume obligations over time, but the frustrating fact is the agency continues to misunderstand the clear intent of the statute _ to drive innovation in both ethanol production and ethanol marketing," Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, told the Des Moines Register.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, echoed Dinneen.
"It’s Christmas in May for Big Oil," Grassley said in a statement following the EPA announcement. "President Obama’s EPA continues to buy into Big Oil’s argument that the infrastructure isn’t in place to handle the fuel volumes required by law. Big Oil’s obstruction and the EPA’s delays and indecision have harmed biofuel producers and delayed infrastructure developments."
We join in support for keeping the RFS at levels set by Congress and believe the industry will meet them if RFS uncertainty is removed.
