Iowa farming organizations are upset today after the EPA released the final Renewable Fuel Standard rule for 2020 blend levels. The Iowa Corn Growers Association says that it "does not reflect the deal President Trump agreed to on October 4, 2019."
Monte Shaw, president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association echoed the ICGA comments; and added that we are essentially being told to trust the EPA to uphold the RFS in the future even though for the past three years the EPA has routinely undermined the program. Every farmer and biofuel supporter I have talked to is deeply disappointed, frustrated, and quite frankly angry. I don’t think the White House truly understands the depth of discontent in farm country.”
The EPA plan "relies on using a three-year rolling average of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recommendations for SREs, which EPA has routinely ignored and is under no legal obligation to follow," says Shaw.
The Iowa Corn Growers Association says that they submitted calls to action to the EPA and President Trump during the comment period for the supplemental rule, which gathered more than 1000 farmer comments in total. The ICGA made one final push earlier this week while president, Jim Grief, met with the Director of the U.S. National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, at the White House.