Washington, DC — The Environmental Protection Agency has released its final rule for biofuel blending requirements over the next three years, with ethanol production targets that are not as high as initially proposed in December.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says this latest EPA decision fails to meet the intent of the Renewable Fuels Standard.
The rule does increase production requirements for biodiesel and renewable diesel, but Naig says those levels are below current usage. The state ag secretary is also accusing the EPA of pitting one sector of the renewable fuels industry against another by lowering the ethanol numbers.
Naig says the Biden Administration has failed to support the benefits of renewable fuel production.
Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, says for an administration obsessed with reducing carbon emissions, this rule makes absolutely no sense. Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says the Biden Administration is refusing to recognize that biodiesel and ethanol are homegrown cleaner fuel solutions that are available today. The president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association says the proposal fails on all fronts and the head of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association says the EPA has set up a lose-lose situation for ethanol and biodiesel producers. Critics say the Renewable Fuels Standard diverts too much prime farmland to produce fuel rather than food.
