RFS Disappointment

From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Senate biofuels advocate Chuck Grassley is slamming the EPA over its recent volume proposals for biodiesel next year and later …

GRASSLEY … “The proposed RFS volume is very disappointing.”

Especially, Grassley argues, since EPA could have used Energy Department figures that renewable diesel capacity could increase by 500 million gallons next year, way more than EPA’s proposed 60 million gallons. Grassley says EPA’s “got its head in the sand” …

GRASSLEY … “We have this problem in government. you can call it a ‘silo problem,’ you can call it a ‘bureaucratic problem.’ One agency not speaking to the other. It sounds like EPA has failed to consult with the energy department.”

But the Treasury Department also has a role …

GRASSLEY … “The decision will be whether to include crop-based feedstocks, in other words, corn and soybeans, as part of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel tax credit. If the Treasury decides on using the U.S. Government model, then corn and soybeans will be included.”

But they won’t be if an international UN model is used.

Grassley says in two years, the U.S. will have the capacity to produce five billion gallons of renewable diesel along with the protein-rich animal feed that comes from soybeans.