Association says small-refinery exemptions render proposed rule meaningless

Contact: Cassidy Walter
515-252-6249

 JOHNSTON, IOWA – Today during testimony before the EPA, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Managing Director Lucy Norton urged that the final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rule for 2019 must reflect the law and President Donald Trump’s commitment to the RFS. Noting the proposed increases for biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol, and overall advanced biofuels are refreshing, Norton highlighted that they, as well as corn ethanol, are undermined by small-refinery exemptions.

“Today, our message is simple: 15 billion gallons must mean 15 billion gallons,” Norton said. “That is what the law says. Yet the moment the ink dries on this rule in the Federal Register, retroactive and questionable small-refinery exemptions, if not addressed, will slash the RFS categories to meaningless levels. The exemptions are a cancer that eats into each and every RFS category. Quite frankly, the rampant use of small refinery exemptions is a cancer that is eating into the credibility of the EPA.”

Norton emphasized that despite President Trump’s commitment and direction from the Administration to increase RFS volumes and reallocate gallons lost to questionable small-refinery exemptions, EPA went rogue for the second year in a row with a demand-destroying proposal at the 11^th hour before the proposed rule went public.

“The EPA going rogue makes a mockery of the interagency process and highlights how the EPA under its former leadership was out of step with the Trump Administration and President Trump himself,” she said. “Restore the integrity of the RFS and, by doing so, the trust of rural America in this agency and in this Administration.”

To read Norton’s full prepared comments, click here.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association represents the state’s liquid renewable fuels industry and works to foster its growth. Iowa is the nation’s leader in renewable fuels production with 43 ethanol refineries capable of producing nearly 4.4 billion gallons annually – including approximately 55 million gallons of annual cellulosic ethanol production capacity – and 12 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce 400 million gallons annually. For more information, visit the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association website at: www.IowaRFA.org.

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