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Governors criticize EPA on RFS
(L – R): Iowa Governor Branstad, Missouri Governor Nixon, Iowa Ag Sec. Northey, Missouri Ag Director Fordyce
An EPA official says the volumes EPA set for the Renewable Fuel Standard are appropriate but two governors in ethanol country strongly disagree.
Christopher Grundler, Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) for the EPA, says their proposed standards represent significant growth over 2014 as Congress intended, “It’s our judgment that the pace that the pace that congress set out in 2007 is extremely ambitious and simply impossible to meet in the time frame that we’re looking at here which is the next 12 to 18 months.” Grundler told reporters the EPA is not in the habit of establishing standards that are unachievable.
But, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon in his testimony at EPA’s hearing in Kansas City on Thursday said farmers have got this, “We have never failed to meet the requirements! We have never failed to deliver, ever. Every time I’ve asked the farmers of our state to deliver for America they have been at the front of the line. So, talk about inadequate domestic supply is just FALSE.”
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad says the EPA must listen to farmers. “Big Oil has polluted the discourse with half-truths and a narrative that rewards their bad behavior by blocking market access to renewables.”
AUDIO: Chris Grundler, EPA, speaks with reporters (13:30 mp3):
AUDIO: Testimony of Governors Terry Branstad (IA) and Jay Nixon (MO):
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