Contact: Cassidy Walter
515-322-0435

JOHNSTON, IA – Today the EPA announced that it has decided it agrees with the logic laid out in the decision from the 10^th Circuit Court decision from January of 2020 regarding Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) exemptions. In particular, EPA agrees that the exemptions need to be an extension of an exemption a refinery has always maintained and only if that refinery can continue to demonstration disproportionate economic harm.

In response to support for this decision, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw made the following statement:

“We are excited and pleased to hear EPA finally embrace the common-sense 10^th Circuit Court decision on RFS exemptions. The RFS exemption program was always intended to be a tool to provide temporary relief to truly small refineries and it has been abused for far too long. Hopefully this signals an end to the dark days of undermining the RFS through illegal exemptions and waivers, and we can look forward to the law being applied in a way that actually grows demand for ethanol and biodiesel blends as was always intended.”

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 42 ethanol refineries capable of producing 4.5 billion gallons annually – including 34 million gallons of annual cellulosic ethanol production capacity – and 11 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce 410 million gallons annually. For more information, visit the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association website at: www.IowaRFA.org.

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