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Michigan biofuel companies shed light on RFS impacts

Leaders of Michigan’s biofuel industry joined dozens of state and national groups in Ann Arbor to testify against the EPA’s latest proposal for Renewable Fuel Standard volumes Wednesday.

Leon Jackson, CEO of Thumb BioEnergy in Sandusky, collects used cooking oil from a thousand local restaurants and food stores and wants to expand, but…

“An exemption for even the smallest oil refinery can wipe out the demand for the entire half-million gallons I produce in a year.  It’s difficult to see how any small refinery faces hardships that are greater than those faced by much smaller biodiesel producer.”

Aric Metevia manages Marysville Ethanol which produces 60 million gallons of ethanol annually in St. Clair County.  He wants to see the EPA uphold the law to protect the economic viability of their community.

“The key is net out to the 15 billion gallons as the law requires.  Anything short of this will be seen as a broken promise by the administration to our workers, farmers, and communities.”      

Leaders say small refinery exemptions also caused the Valero Ethanol Plant in Riga, Michigan near the Ohio border to close temporally this year and production cutbacks at POET Biorefining’s Caro facility in the Thumb.