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Coalition asks court to hold EPA accountable, restore biofuel gallons
A coalition of biofuel and ag trade groups is asking a federal appeals court to enforce its 2017 decision requiring EPA to restore 500 million gallons of biofuels that were illegally waived in the 2016 renewable volume obligation.
The court ordered EPA to revisit the rule, but the agency has yet to restore the lost gallons.
Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper says that’s why the coalition filed a motion on Monday asking the court to take action.
“We’re tired of waiting for EPA to do the right thing so yesterday our groups got back together and we filed a writ of mandamus petition in the same court, the US Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, and that basically gets us back in front of that court very quickly and allows us to make them aware that their 2017 order has been ignored by EPA and it really gives us a chance to ask the court to step back in and enforce its ruling,” he says.
He tells Brownfield after a few years of false promises, EPA still hasn’t restored the gallons.
“They never made good on those commitments or promises and so we’re sort of at the end of our rope and we don’t feel like we can trust EPA when they tell us they’re going to get around to it,” he says.
The coalition is asking the court to require the EPA to act within six months of any court order and then give refiners three months to comply.
“We’re hopeful this whole thing can be cleaned within a period of nine months after the court would revisit this and hopefully issue a new order,” he says.
In addition to RFA, the coalition includes Growth Energy, American Coalition for Ethanol, National Biodiesel Board, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, and National Sorghum Producers.
Tags: ag trade groups, American Coalition for Ethanol, biofuel, Biofuels, EPA, Ethanol, Geoff Cooper, Growth Energy, National Biodiesel Board, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, National Sorghum Producers, Renewable Fuel Standard, Renewable Fuels Association, renewable volume obligations, RFA, RFS, RVO
This just sounds all positive for the corn market. Things will finally get honest with the new administration coming in.