(Des Moines, IA) -- A letter from three Midwest governors urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reevaluate proposed rules for the biofuels industry.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, and Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen signed the letter Thursday, May 25. The governors ask the EPA to raise the biomass-based diesel volumes allowed in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Through the program, the EPA sets annual volume targets for four categories of renewable fuel, including biodiesels.
The governors argue the proposed RFS rules set for 2023, 2024 and 2025 "did not provide the expected upward trajectory for the biomass-based diesel industry."
The U.S. biomass-based diesel industry produced more than 3 billion gallons in 2022, but the EPA's proposed volumes by 2025 "would not even reach 3 billion gallons." Without an increase in volume targets, the governors said nearly $5 billion in biofuels investments in biofuels could be put at risk, limiting the industry's future growth.
"U.S. fuel prices remain stubbornly high and diesel fuel stocks remain at low levels," said the governors. "Limiting rural economic development and hindering opportunities for farmers in our states is the wrong approach. Adding to the supply of fuel, expanding agriculture markets, and supporting rural economies is the right thing to do right now."