Legislative Update: Governors, Congress members urge EPA to reject ‘gap year’ exemptions
By Amanda Bilek, senior public policy director for the Minnesota Corn Growers Association
Last week’s update discussed the latest attempt by oil refiners to undermine the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It became public last week that oil refiners have submitted 52 retroactive, or so called “gap year” exemption requests to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), totaling nearly 2 billion gallons of biofuel use.
The retroactive exemption request is an attempt by the oil refiners to get around the Tenth circuit court decision on the “small refinery exemption” program, which concluded the EPA improperly granted exemptions to oil refiners because they were not extensions of prior year requests.
Since EPA made these oil refiner requests public last week, we have seen calls from Governors and members of Congress urging EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to outright reject these requests.
The Governors Biofuels Coalition, chaired by Governors Kristi Noem (R-South Dakota) and Vice Chair Tim Walz (D-Minnesota) sent a letter to Administrator Wheeler, which was co-signed by Governors Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa) and Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska). We appreciate the leadership of the Governors Biofuels Coalition and Vice-Chair Governor Walz in asking EPA to reject the effort from oil refiners to circumvent the Tenth Circuit court decision.
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar along with Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) led a bipartisan letter, co-signed by 12 Senate colleagues, including Senator Tina Smith, to Wheeler expressing concern and frustration about these retroactive oil refinery exemptions. The Senators also requested Wheeler respond in writing to several questions they posed regarding EPA administration of the RFS. Thank you to Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith for defending the RFS and supporting ethanol.
It is also worth noting that Iowa Senator Joni Ernst publically stated she would block the confirmation of EPA Deputy Administrator Doug Benevento and even stated that she would withhold support for any EPA nominee until Administrator Wheeler details how the agency will handle the retroactive exemption requests. Senator Ernst is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, where there is a one margin between the majority and minority.
Finally, the House Biofuels Caucus sent a letter to President Trump urging him to direct the EPA to apply the Tenth Circuit decision nationally and quickly reject the retroactive exemption requests since it is the latest attempt by oil refiners to weaken the market for corn and ethanol use in our transportation fuel supply. The House Biofuels Caucus effort was being led by Agriculture Committee Chairman and caucus co-chair Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Biofuels Caucus co-chairs Reps Rodney Davis (R-Illinois), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), and Dave Loeskack (D-Iowa). We want to extend our thanks to Minnesota Representatives Jim Hagedorn, Tom Emmer and Angie Craig for co-signing the letter to President Trump and continuing their strong support of the RFS.
Rounding out the items on the RFS, we are still waiting for EPA to publish the draft rule for 2021 Renewable Volume Obligation. It could come later this week.
United States Mexico Canada Agreement
Tomorrow, July 1, marks the date that the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) will enter into force. USMCA was a top trade priority for MCGA in 2019. Mexico and Canada are top markets for Minnesota corn and corn products.
Be sure to follow the MCGA blog and its social channels (Facebook, Twitter) for updates. You can also follow me on Twitter (@AjBilek).
