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Peterson meeting with “Big Oil” to find middle ground

As the debate rages on over the Renewable Fuels Standard, the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee has begun meeting with lawmakers from Big Oil states to find middle ground.

Congressman Collin Peterson says too much is being made of EPA’s recent announcement of renewable volume obligations (RVO) for 2018.

“I’ve already had some of these meetings, and at that time we had 14.5 billion gallons from the EPA and the total was 15.  I said ‘why are both sides making this huge fight over 500 million gallons?”

The new RVO targets are 200 million gallons short of the statute.

Peterson tells Brownfield he’s having closed-door meetings with fellow Congressmen from Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota.

“Nobody from the industry, just members of Congress.  I won’t even let our staffs be in the room.  I’m trying to get people at least to the point where we can agree on what the facts are.”

Peterson says he first earned the trust of proponents of the oil industry when he helped repeal the Oil Export Ban that was established in the 1970’s.

His goal this year is to help educate both sides of the renewable fuels debate, with the intent of eventually putting together a bill that would bring people together.

“I have the fellow who has the anti-ethanol bill, Bill Flores from Texas.  He’s got the bill that would cap the RFS at 9.7 percent.  He’s coming in to see me at 5:30 on Monday.  I don’t think he realizes exactly what he’s going to run into (chuckles).  But, this will be good.”

Peterson says he is working towards a solution that will be good for both sides, and more importantly good for the American people.