The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to increase the amount of renewable fuel in the nation’s fuel supply next year, but it won’t be enough to satisfy the ethanol industry.
The EPA is proposing to increase the amount of renewable fuel in the nation’s gasoline supply by 590 million gallons in 2019, the agency announced Tuesday.
The amount of corn ethanol allowed to be blended under the Renewable Fuel Standard will be kept at its maximum of 15 billion gallons, while the agency is increasing the amount for all biofuels from 19.29 billion gallons in 2018 to 19.88 billion gallons in 2019.
Nevertheless, ethanol supporters immediately came out slamming the proposal, saying it does not mean much if the EPA continues to allow refiners to be exempt from blending ethanol to save money.
“The ethanol number isn’t worth the paper it’s written on so long as Scott Pruitt is granting small refinery exemptions left and right — even beyond what the Department of Energy recommends,” said Monte Shaw, the head of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. “This is a status quo proposal for ethanol and the status quo is bad.”
Reuters reported earlier Tuesday that the EPA ignored recommendations from the Energy Department to not issue full fuel waivers to small oil refineries and instead only grant a 50 percent waiver. Other ethanol groups say the news helps the lawsuits filed by ethanol producers and farmers in two federal appeals courts over EPA’s waiver program.
Shaw said that the dozens of waivers that the EPA has issued to oil refiners has drawn the amount of ethanol being produced closer to 13.5 billion gallons, “which is well below what President Trump promised and what it takes to grow demand.”
EPA’s proposed rule doesn’t mention reallocating the 1.5 billion gallons not blended this year because of the refinery “hardship” waivers.
“Rural America is already suffering from low commodity prices and tariff wars, and today’s proposal is a missed opportunity to provide good news for consumers and farmers,” Shaw said.
The EPA’s waivers were issued to large independent refineries, with even giants such as ExxonMobil asking that their smaller refineries be exempt from having to abide by the renewable fuel program.
Independent refineries, which must buy credits to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard because they are not able to blend ethanol, have complained about the soaring cost of the credits, and Administrator Scott Pruitt has been attempting to alleviate those costs by issuing waivers.
