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S.D. farmer to advocate for strong RFS at EPA hearing

The U.S. EPA will hold a public hearing in Washington Tuesday on the proposed 2018 biofuel mandates.

Testifying on behalf of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) will be Chester, South Dakota farmer Keith Alverson. Alverson says will he urge the EPA to maintain the proposed conventional ethanol requirement in the final RFS rule.

“We appreciate the fact that they followed the intent of Congress and held it up to 15 billion gallons,” Alverson says.

But NCGA is concerned about the proposed reduction in the cellulosic ethanol volume, he says.

“We’ve seen investment at our corn plant levels with folks adding cellulosic technologies—pulling the corn fiber out and things along that line, where there’s some opportunity to capture that,” he says. “So there’s been investment and innovation that’s been taking place across the Midwest to capture those markets—and we think of all of it as an opportunity.”

Alverson says the reduction could discourage continued investment and innovation in cellulosic and advanced ethanol production.

AUDIO: Keith Alverson