This weeek the National Biodiesel Board thanked 44 members of Congress, including a bipartisan group of Minnesota representatives, for urging President Trump to deny recent requests to waive the 2020 Renewable Fuel Standard volumes. Led by Reps. Abby Finkenauer (D-IA), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Roger Marshall, MD (R-KS), Collin Peterson (D-MN), and Rodney Davis (R-IL), the bipartisan group of lawmakers delivered a letter to the President asking him “to stand with our farmers and rural economies during this challenging time” and work together “on ways to deliver on continued investment and support for biofuels.”
Citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the damage done by EPA’s abuse of small refinery exemptions, the Congressmembers wrote, “This pandemic has severely strained the market for biofuels, closing plants and dealing another crippling blow to an industry that is already struggling.”
Referring to requests from state governors that EPA waive the 2020 RFS volumes, the Congressional letter goes on to say, “In addition to the economic harm waiving the RFS would cause rural America, these requests are unjustified and run contrary to the EPA’s well-established precedents.”
Kurt Kovarik, NBB’s vice president of federal affairs, says, “On behalf of biodiesel producers across the country, I’d like to thank Representatives Finkenauer, Loebsack, Marshall, Peterson and Davis and many others who are standing up on behalf of the industry and the RFS. As they’ve noted, an RFS waiver would be unjustified and simply compound the economic challenges that biodiesel producers and farmers face. Further, it would undercut a successful environmental policy that is transitioning the United States to better, cleaner fuels.”
Additional Congressional members endorsing the letter include Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Jim Hagedorn (R-MN), Mike Bost (R-IL), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Don Bacon (R-NE), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Cindy Axne (D-IA), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Robin L. Kelly (D-IL), Sam Graves (R-MO), Ron Estes (R-KS), Steve Watkins (R-KS), James Comer (R-KY), Sean Casten (D-IL), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), TJ Cox (D-CA), Adrian Smith (R-NE), Steve King (R-IA), Ron Kind (D-WI), Rick Crawford (R-AR), Jim Baird (R-IN), Jason Smith (R-MO), Jim Himes (D-CT), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Scott Peters (D-CA), John Larson (D-CT), Joe Courtney (D-CT), David Cicilline (D-CT), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH), and David Scott (D-GA).
Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. It is the nation’s first domestically produced, commercially available advanced biofuel. NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel and renewable diesel value chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers, and fuel distributors.
