News

Renewable fuels industry alarmed by new EPA biodiesel proposal

The renewable fuels industry is expressing frustration with the EPA’s proposal to make additional cuts to biodiesel in the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Monte Shaw of Iowa Renewable Fuels Association warns it could have a “ripple effect” on the federal ethanol mandate.

“The president says: ‘I support renewable fuels. I want them to be part of our “America First” energy plan,’ and then you have an EPA that is doing everything in its power to come up with convoluted pretzel logic to lower the numbers and to rip the heart out of the RFS,” Shaw says.

The EPA says it’s concerned the expiration of the biodiesel tax credit and a potential decline in biodiesel imports could cause domestic biodiesel prices “to increase significantly”.  But Shaw doesn’t buy that argument.

“It really appears that the EPA and Administrator Pruitt know the answer they want, which is to gut the RFS, and they’re just looking around for a justification to do it,” he says. “It may be time for rural America to ring the alarm bell and say: ‘Hey, we need a course correction here. This is not what we were promised by the president.’”

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley also blasted the EPA’s proposal, calling it a “bait and switch” maneuver on behalf of “Big Oil.”

Radio Iowa contributed to this story.