Legislative Update: Waivers again threaten ethanol industry; and a MN special session recap
By Amanda Bilek, senior public policy director for the Minnesota Corn Growers Association
This week’s policy update begins with an update on the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and the latest proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and oil refiners to undermine the policy and avoid following the law. If this sounds familiar, it is. We have been here before.
Last week the EPA published an updated dashboard of RFS exemption requests from oil refineries. It had been rumored that refiners had submitted so called “gap year” exemptions requests. The dashboard confirmed that EPA has received a total of 52 exemptions requests from oil refineries, totaling nearly 2 billion gallons in requests. To make this even worse, the exemption requests went back 2011, but why?
As the National Corn Growers Association has previously reported, the Tenth Circuit court decision on the “small refinery exemption” program reviewed exemption requests granted in 2016 and 2017 and concluded that EPA improperly granted requests because granted exemptions must be temporary extensions of prior year requests. Therefore, if EPA were to apply the Tenth Circuit decision broadly, the majority of exemptions requested would not meet the court criteria.
But instead of applying the court decision, oil refiners are asking EPA to skirt the court decision and grant these “gap year” exemptions dating back to 2011 so they can form a continuous string of exemptions and continue to flout the law and Congressional intent, further decreasing the market for ethanol and corn demand.
RFS Annual Volume Obligation
Later this week, we are expecting EPA to release the draft rule for 2021 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) under the RFS. EPA is likely to propose to address the 500 million gallon court remand over two compliance years: 2021 and 2022. However, we will have to wait until we see the details in the draft rule for how they handle that issue along with the “gap year” exemption requests from oil refiners. The administration has previously committed to maintaining the 15 billion gallon obligation in law.
Coronavirus Food Assistance Program
USDA continues to update the weekly information on program payments to date. As of June 22, the Farm Service Agency has processed a little over $4 billion in payments to more than 250,000 farmers. In Minnesota, non-specialty payments total approximately $102 million to nearly 14,000 farmers. There has also been about $102 million in livestock payments and $46.5 million in dairy payments.
According to recent reports, it looks likely Congress will focus on negotiations for a fourth round of COVID-19-related aid after the July 4 recess with the goal of finalizing before the August recess.
Minnesota Legislature
The first special session of the 91st legislature adjourned early morning on Saturday June 20th in similar fashion as the regular session—with many priorities left on the table. The House and Senate were able to pass a $62 million small business assistance program providing grants of up to $10,000 for businesses financially impacted by COVID-19. The Department of Employment and Economic Development opened the application period today. Farms are eligible. You can learn more and apply here.
It is possible Governor Walz could call legislators back to St. Paul for a second special session; however, leaders have expressed a need to have an agreement in place on remaining business. If Governor Walz extends his peacetime emergency powers, which expire on July 13, the legislature does need to be in session for that to happen. The Minnesota Corn Growers Association would like to see legislators reach agreement on a bonding and tax bill and pass those priorities. Addressing Section 179 is a top priority for agriculture and business groups.
As always, we will keep you updated with any developments farmers need to know.
Finally, corn farmers might have been hearing about proposal in the media related to cars, vehicle tailpipe emission standards, California and rulemaking. Earlier this week, I posted a detailed update about this proposal, where it came from and how MCGA has been advocating for corn farmers through the process. I encourage you to read that post here and please contact me if you have any questions or want to discuss further.
Be sure to follow the MCGA blog and its social channels (Facebook, Twitter) for updates. You can also follow me on Twitter (@AjBilek). You can also subscribe to Leader Update, MCGA’s e-newsletter, by clicking below:
