At one time, the ethanol industry would have been thrilled with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal for 2019 RFS blending requirements, which maintains the 15 billion gallon statutory level for conventional biofuels and increases the levels for advanced biofuels. But that was before EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt started handing out small refinery exemptions like Halloween candy resulting in over 2.5 billion gallons of demand destruction – by EPA’s own admission.
Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen says he is especially infuriated because the announcement was delayed on Friday to change language in the proposal “that would have, at least for future small refinery waivers, created a more transparent process by which those gallons would have been reallocated.”
In this Ethanol Report, Dinneen reacts to the proposal, and to a Reuters report that EPA ignored Department of Energy recommendations to limit waivers. Ethanol Report on EPA Proposed 2019 RVOs