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Corn growers pleased with court ruling against EPA on biofuels

A U.S. appeals court has vacated waivers used in the EPA’s renewable fuel standards 2016 final rule.  Several organizations challenged EPA’s use of inadequate domestic supply waivers when setting 2016 biofuel requirements.  Kathy Bergren with the National Corn Growers Association says the court’s decision is good for growers.

Kathy Bergren with the National Corn Growers Association says the court’s decision is good for growers.  “The court agreed with corn growers, and was pretty clear that EPA can’t change the way that the law is written and interpret it to mean supply and demand when it says supply, and referring to supply of biofuels.”

Bergren says the 2016 compliance period is closed, but she expects EPA will have to work on getting around 500-million gallons of biofuels into the market on top of current requirements to comply with the intent of Congress.  “Our hope is that EPA would make the least disruptive fix possible, and we hope to provide some input to EPA as they consider some options for complying with the court’s decision.”

Several court challenges were brought against the EPA for its biofuel final rule, but only the challenge from Americans for Clean Energy was accepted by justices.

 

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen also issued a statement supporting the court’s decision, saying the EPA abused its general waiver authority by including factors such as demand and infrastructure in a waiver intended to be based solely on available supply.