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Bipartisan Group of Senators Urges Pruitt to Protect Biodiesel in RFS
Missouri Ag Connection - 10/17/2017

Monday, a bipartisan group of 34 senators sent a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on the recently proposed changes to America's Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), urging them to increase the volumes of biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuel in the final rule.

"Reducing volumes--and especially those [Renewable Volume Obligations] RVOs that were previously finalized--is disruptive, unprecedented and very troubling," the senators write. "These volumes do not meet actual biodiesel production capacity in the United States, and could have a negative impact on jobs and economies in rural communities across the nation."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a request for additional comments on reducing previously finalized volumes required by the RFS program and on using waiver authorities to further reduce biodiesel volumes. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) has serious concerns with EPA's recent actions and made their concerns known with these biodiesel champions in the Senate. The latest proposed cuts to the RFS volumes threaten jobs in rural America, negatively affect the companies who have invested to comply with the law, and undermine the energy security goals of the RFS program.

"EPA should seek comment on factors that warrant HIGHER advanced biofuel and biomass-based diesel volumes in order to achieve Congress's goals of diversifying our fuel supply, supporting rural jobs and enhancing U.S. energy security. Instead, the recent request for comment from EPA flaunts these objectives--with the potential to eradicate jobs and bankrupt farmers," said Doug Whitehead, chief operating officer at the National Biodiesel Board.

In the letter, the senators called on EPA Administrator Pruitt to support the job creation and agricultural benefits that higher volumes of biofuels provide: "the proposed volumes ... could cause near-term job losses and discourage investment in capacity and new fuel development."

Led by U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), 30 other senators signed onto the letter, including Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Angus King (D-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

And earlier Monday, four Republican governors sent a similar letter calling on the president to support higher biodiesel volumes under the RFS.

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. It is the nation's first domestically produced, commercially available advanced biofuel. Biodiesel supports roughly 64,000 jobs across the United States.

The National Biodiesel Board is the U.S. trade association representing the biodiesel and renewable diesel industries, including producers, feedstock suppliers and fuel distributors.


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