U.S.\u00a0 industry lobby group the National Biodiesel Board has asked the Environment Protection Agency\u00a0 to immediately establish biodiesel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard as it highlighted fallout from the government\u2019s failure to establish\u00a0 a clear renewable fuels policy for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n
In a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, former biodiesel producer and NBB Governing Board Member Ben Wootton challenged McCarthy\u2019s recent comments suggesting that the RFS delays haven\u2019t hurt renewable fuels industries. Wootton lost his Pennsylvania biodiesel plant, Keystone Biofuels, in bankruptcy last year as a result of RFS uncertainty. In his letter, he explained to McCarthy how the loss of his plant also forced him to lay off 30 employees and caused him to lose his daughters\u2019 college funds and his retirement savings.<\/p>\n
Wootton pointed to a statement late last year in which McCarthy said: \u201cWhile I would have preferred to have this rule done earlier, it hasn’t slowed down that industry that I can see.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would invite Administrator McCarthy to come to my shuttered plant and talk to some of the laid off workers, or to visit practically any biodiesel plant across the country to see the damage that is taking place,\u201d Wootton said.\u201cIt is obvious that this administration doesn\u2019t understand the severe damage that the uncertainty surrounding this rule has caused our industry and the thousands of employees it represents. It is beyond frustrating that an Administration I have strongly supported has inflicted so much harm on an industry it says it supports.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EPA has failed to establish biodiesel volume requirements under the RFS for 2014, 2015 and 2016, the NBB said. \u201cUnder statute, all three years\u2019 volumes should have been set,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile certain sectors of the renewable fuels industry have fared better in absorbing the RFS uncertainty \u2013 particularly more mature industries such as corn ethanol \u2013 the delays have been disastrous for new industries still getting off the ground. This is particularly true for biodiesel, the first EPA-designated Advanced Biofuel under the RFS to reach commercial-scale production nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EPA earlier this week approved a streamlined approach for allowing imports of Argentinian biodiesel into the U.S. \u2013 fast-tracking foreign imports under the RFS that are subsidized by Argentinian tax policy and are likely to undercut U.S. production. The decision has been perceived by biodiesel producers and the domestic soybean industry as adding insult to injury, the NBB said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. industry lobby group the National Biodiesel Board has asked the Environment Protection Agency to immediately establish biodiesel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard as it highlighted fallout from the government\u2019s failure to establish a clear renewable fuels policy for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[686,684,685,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas","category-efficiency","category-policy-education","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n