Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following yesterday:
In Bipartisan Effort, Senators Murray, Blunt, Heitkamp, Grassley Urge EPA to Boost Biodiesel, Support Jobs
Aug 23 2018
WASHINGTON -
Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Heidi
Heitkamp (D-ND), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) led a bipartisan group of 35
other senators urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
increase volume obligations for biomass-based diesel and advanced
biofuel and ensure any small refiner economic hardship exemptions are
appropriately accounted for in its final rule for the Renewable Fuel
Standard (RFS). The EPA’s June 2018 proposal
would raise the biomass-based diesel volume for 2020 to 2.43 billion
gallons and increase the advanced biofuel volume for 2019 to 4.88
billion gallons.
“While these proposed increases are
encouraging, these volumes continue to underestimate the existing
potential of the biodiesel and renewable diesel industries in our
states,” the senators wrote. “We
believe the biodiesel industry can do more and that EPA should
demonstrate more confidence in the RFS program’s ability to drive
growth. Increasing biomass-based diesel and advance biofuel volumes
would encourage investment in capacity and new fuel development.
Further, EPA must accurately account for small refiner economic hardship
exemptions in the final rule. … It is critical that EPA appropriately
account for any small refiner economic hardship exemptions that it
reasonably expects to grant during the 2019 compliance year in the final
rule, or EPA will not be able to fulfill its duty to ensure RVOs are
met.”
As the senators noted in their letter,
every 500 million gallon increase in biodiesel production supports an
estimated 16,000 jobs.
The senators continued, “We
have made great progress through the RFS in diversifying our nation’s
fuel supply while creating and sustaining jobs, strengthening local
economies, generating tax revenues, and improving energy security. We
urge you to continue to increase annual RVOs for biomass-based diesel
and advanced biofuels and to ensure that, once set, the annual RVOs are fully met.”
In addition to Murray, Blunt, Heitkamp,
and Grassley, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin
(D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OHO), Maria Cantwell
(D-WA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Catherine Cortez Masto
(D-NV), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL),
Joni Ernst (R-IA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Maggie
Hassan (D-NH), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), John Hoeven (R-ND), Angus King
(I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA),
Claire McCaskill (R-MO), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chris
Murphy (D-CT), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Pat Roberts (R-KS),
Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie
Stabenow (D-MI), John Thune (R-SD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
The full text of the letter can be viewed here.
