Fighting EPA

Fighting EPA

Fighting EPA. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture.

Ag groups lobbied hard against EPA's proposed new rule for the Renewable Fuel Standard at the same time EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy was testifying before a Senate committee on controversial agency proposals. 25 by 25 Ethanol Group Project Leader Ernie Shea moderated a meeting between at least seven ag and biofuels groups and acting EPA Assistant Administrator Janet McCabe.

MCCABE: I think the single most important message we delivered is that the RFS is a lot more than an agricultural issue. It's a jobs bill. It's an environmental bill. It's a climate change solution set issue.

Among those urging the EPA to drop its proposal to scale back blending targets under the RFS - the American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Association of Conservation Districts and the American Council on Renewable Energy. Shea suggests the firepower's needed.

MCCABE: The reality is that EPA has, at least up this point, bought into the blend wall argument that the oil industry has been promoting very aggressively and they're attempting to convince policy makers and agency officials that we do not as a nation have the capacity, the infrastructure, the vehicles, the pumps to be able to utilize the fuels that are called for in the RFS.

Shea says his coalition argued the RFS was put into place to drive change - not resist building needed infrastructure. And RFS reductions will mean less investment in emerging technologies that could yield 80 to 100-billion gallons a year. He says EPA's McCabe acknowledges the importance of encouraging investment - and the environmental benefits of biofuels - but insists the rulemaking is a complicated one. He says while some speculate a final rule could be out by June - it could be later in the summer after a final White House review.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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