(Des Moines, Iowa) Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has written President Donald Trump a letter expressing concern about the Environmental Protection Agency's apparent direction when it comes to the Renewable Fuel Standard, or R-F-S.
The E-P-A is requesting comment about reducing the total, advanced and biomass-based diesel volumes beyond, already proposed cuts to those volumes.
Governor Reynolds says the action runs counter to President Donald Trump's repeated R-F-S commitment. The governors, of Kansas, Missouri, and South Dakota have signed onto Reynolds' letter.
“Two weeks ago, the EPA requested comment on whether it should further reduce the total, advanced and biomass-based diesel volumes beyond the recently proposed (and ill-advised) cuts to the 2019-19 RFS volumes,” Gov. Reynolds said. “This action is concerning and runs counter to the president’s repeated commitment to the RFS and rural America. The stated purpose of the RFS is to grow demand for biofuels—to push the industry to innovate—and I encourage the EPA to remember that when finalizing the volume levels."
“There’s no question there are ample American feedstocks and U.S. capacity to justify a much larger biodiesel number under the law,” she continued. “The RFS revitalized our rural communities, bringing jobs and hope. Every 500 million gallons of increased biodiesel production support roughly 16,000 good-paying jobs in rural America.”