Contact: Cassidy Walter
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JOHNSTON, IOWA – Today the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee voted to approve President Donald Trump’s EPA Administrator Nominee Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler’s nomination will now be taken to the full Senate body for a vote.

After today’s vote, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) sent a letter to Acting Administrator Wheeler signed by hundreds of 2019 Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit attendees asking him to take immediate action to approve year-round E15 and restore Congressional intent to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) small-refinery exemption process.

“As this nomination process moves forward, IRFA is thankful to Senator Ernst for her steadfast oversight of Acting Administrator Wheeler’s tenure, including impressing upon him the importance of meeting President Trump’s June 1^st deadline to approve year-round E15 and the absolute need to restore sanity to the process for small-refinery exemptions to the RFS,” said IRFA Executive Director Monte Shaw. “While today’s vote gets Wheeler one step closer to becoming the official EPA Administrator, we need to see immediate action on the E15 rule and more clarity on potential changes to the RFS exemption process before we could encourage support for his final Senate vote.”

The full text of IRFA’s letter is below.

January 29, 2019

Dear Acting Administrator Wheeler:

Please take immediate action to ensure year-round E15 is finalized by President Trump’s June 1st deadline and to return Congressional intent to the RFS small-refinery exemption process. These actions would go a long way to help increase consumer fuel choice, boost the struggling agriculture economy, and keep President Trump’s promises to rural America. 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IRFA Policy Director Nathan Hohnstein holding IRFA’s letter to Acting Administrator Wheeler.

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 4.5 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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