IARN — Farm and biofuel leaders face another hurdle, when it comes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) compliance of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Geoff Cooper, president and Chief Executive Officer with the Renewable Fuels Association, explains.
“We sued EPA in 2016. The Agency had inappropriately reduced the Renewable Fuel Standard requirements – Not just for 2016, but also for 2014 and 2015. They set those final requirements below levels specified by the law and finalized by Congress,” Cooper says.
“The D.C. Circuit Court agreed with us. They found, in our favor, EPA had acted unlawfully,” Cooper says. “The court ordered the EPA to repair some of the damage they did to the industry by restoring the RFS blending requirements for 2016. That ruling came out in July of 2017. Here we are, three-and-a-half years later, and the EPA has not complied with that court’s order.”
A coalition of the nation’s largest biofuels and agricultural trade groups, Monday filed a writ of mandamus in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Colombia. Ultimately, the coalition wants the Court to uphold its 2017 decision.
“We hope the court reaffirms its decision and forces (the) EPA to finalize a corrective action within six months of ordering them to do so. What that would look like is EPA finalizing a rule that adds 500 million gallons of lost demand to RFS volumes, either for 2021 or 2022, or as a standalone obligation. Once they do that, we think they ought to give refiners three months to comply. Our hope is that nine months from the time the court speaks on this, we have this issue resolved and can put it behind us. This will go a long way in restoring some integrity and fidelity to the RFS program,” Cooper says.
