Contact: Cassidy Walter
515-322-0435

JOHNSTON, IOWA – Today Senator Chuck Grassley introduced the Fair Returns for Public Lands Act with Senator Jacky Rosen. The bill would modernize the royalty rates petroleum companies pay when drilling on public lands, which haven’t been updated for over 100 years.

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

“Big Oil loves to claim there would be a so-called level playing field if not for the RFS. Meanwhile, for over 100 years petroleum companies have been paying pennies on the dollar for resources extracted from public lands. The truth is the playing field can never be level when oil companies have secret advantages. This is just one of many hidden Big Oil tax subsidies and we thank Senator Grassley for shining a light on it.”

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.

###