Another 260 million gallons of renewable fuel blending erased. It’s like felling the production of three or four ethanol plants and so, scratching 90 million bushels of corn demand off the balance sheet.
Washington – January 22, 2021
The D.C. Circuit Court, in fact, handed the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) a win in its last battle with the Trump Administration over waivers to the Renewable Fuels Standard.
The court ordered EPA to halt action on three blending waivers granted to refiners by outgoing EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler just hours before he left office.
The waivers allow refineries to bypass requirements for blending ethanol and other biofuels.
According to RFA CEO Geoff Cooper, this was another huge blow to the ethanol industry.
“That’s another 260 million gallons of renewable fuel blending that is just erased,” Cooper explained. “That’d be like shutting down three or four ethanol plants. It’s like scratching 90 million bushels of corn demand off the balance sheet.”
“We’re not sure exactly what prompted or piqued the Supreme Court’s interest in this thing., but I think we’ll find out here in the next few months”.
The court filing by RFA that brought about the stay could be also a message to the incoming administration, according to Cooper.
“We’re very hopeful that the new EPA Administrator, once he’s confirmed, he and the other new officials there at EPA are going to put an end to this nonsense that we’ve seen with these exemptions the past four years” closed Cooper.
