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Hurst: EPA played with the numbers

The president of the Missouri Farm Bureau says they’re very disappointed in the EPA’s final 2020 RFS rule. “As far as I can tell, it’s very close to the preliminary rule. The problem is they used as – well, they played with the numbers and there’s no other way to put it.”

Blake Hurst tells Brownfield Ag News that means the EPA did not account for the demand destruction it caused by granting many small refinery waivers, “They use as a base period numbers that are incorrect, don’t take into account what they actually did. And so, when they did that, it means they are making less allowance for these small refinery exemptions that happened in the past.”

Hurst says the EPA’s rule will continue to depress demand for ethanol – causing more plants to cut back or shut down across the country. So far, none of the six ethanol plants in Missouri have been affected.