Ethanol and biodiesel are important to Iowa’s economy and U.S. energy independence. It’s frustrating when a powerful agency and top executive branch leaders in Washington, D.C., don’t seem to get it.
Midwestern farmers and biofuels makers are watching for the Environmental Protection Agency’s final decision on the Renewable Fuel Standard, which sets the amount of biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel that are blended into the nation’s fuel supply.
The Renewable Fuel Standard has helped to displace oil imports, increase domestic energy security, create jobs in rural America, curb pollution with cleaner-burning fuel and reduce prices at the pump for consumers. Pure and simple, the policy is good for America’s energy supply, as well as its environmental and economic stability.
The EPA’s proposal to lower the amount of biofuels used in the nation’s fuel supply would be detrimental to the farmers and producers who work to produce ethanol and biodiesel as a welcome diversification from foreign fossil fuels and big international oil companies. The EPA could issue a final decision sometime this fall. The EPA proposal has been pending for nearly 10 months. The wait is hard to take and bad for business. Who wants to invest in an industry that might get undermined at a point in the near future that’s impossible to predict?
Those of us who represent biofuels-producing states have weighed in with the EPA and leaders in the Administration and encouraged our constituents to do the same. Just this week, I met with ethanol producers from Iowa, including Rick Schwarck, president of Absolute Energy LLC., an ethanol maker on the Iowa-Minnesota border. He presented me with an award in recognition of my strong support for American ethanol. My support for American biofuels is unwavering. I’ll continue to do everything I can to make sure the EPA sees the light.