2016 brings new RFS repeal efforts, but will they go anywhere?
WASHINGTON, March 2, 2016 - After years of instability, the
Renewable Fuel Standard appears to be headed toward more stable footing, but
critics of the mandate are still pushing for its repeal.
In November,
the EPA’s release of multiyear Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for
2014-2016 and biomass-based diesel requirements for 2017 put an end to years of
drama surrounding the RFS. Advocates and opponents of the mandate were both up
in arms about the uncertainty surrounding the EPA’s governance of the RFS, so
much so that a lawsuit
forcing EPA to release the RVOs was eventually filed by the American Petroleum
Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, two staunch
enemies of the RFS.
Now, opponents are launching a new call for action against
the RFS. Last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held an
RFS oversight hearing where Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., argued repeatedly for
repeal.
“Most of the rationale originally justifying the RFS has
disappeared,” Inhofe said. API President and CEO Jack Gerard said something
similar in
January when he referred to the RFS as “a relic of our nation’s era of
energy dependency.” On a call with reporters last week, API’s Frank Macchiarola
doubled down on Gerard’s comments, calling the “outdated” RFS “public policy at
its worst.”
Macchiarola said RFS repeal or significant reform “is a top
priority this year” for API, adding that the organization is stepping up calls
for repeal in an “across-the-board advocacy campaign” reaching out to Congress
as well as at state and grassroots levels.
Opponents of the RFS are trying to frame this as a new
approach, but Growth Energy Co-Chair and acting CEO Tom Buis sees this approach
is “more of the same.” He says he and many others have been fighting many of
the same battles from RFS opponents essentially since it was signed into law,
and he doesn’t see these latest efforts going anywhere.
“I don’t think anything’s changed in Congress” that would
allow for repeal or reform, he said in an interview with Agri-Pulse. “I don’t anticipate anything happening whatsoever.
There’s one thing that Congress does better than anybody and that’s nothing.”
Buis’ viewpoint might be buoyed by comments from EPA
officials stating their desire to get the RFS back on track after years of
management issues with the statute. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy publicly
stated that she wants to return the RFS to statutory RVOs rather than using a
waiver to set lower volumes as the agency did – and has been sued for doing so
– in November.
At the EPW hearing last
week, EPA’s Janet McCabe said the agency is working to release new RVOs on
the timeline mandated by Congress, which would call for finalized figures by
the end of November of this year for 2017’s RVOs, for example.
Based on those statements, Buis remains confident in the
future of the ethanol industry and the RFS. “They signaled that they want to
get back on track for statutory levels,” he said, “and we all know we can do
it.”
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
