EPA Should Reject NC Gov’s RFS Waiver Request, Says RFA
(Renewable Fuels Association) Responding to an official waiver request of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) released the following statement:
“The Environmental Protection Agency should reject Governor Perdue’s waiver request out of hand. While this drought has caused stress in many agricultural communities, it has not caused the kind of widespread economic harm that is the threshold for EPA to act.
“The RFS already includes a number of compliance options allowing great flexibility for oil refiners to meet their obligations under the program. The market is already taking advantage of these flexibilities as ethanol production has slowed 15% since the beginning of the year in response to market signals.
“To be clear, a waiver of the RFS will not provide the relief meat and livestock producers seek nor will it make it rain on dry corn fields and pastures. What waiving the RFS would do is send chilling signals to investors in new biofuel technologies, threaten to force gas prices higher than they already are, and dramatically lower the availability of ethanol feed products on which the livestock industry is growing to rely. READ MORE and MORE (Webinar) and MORE (PDF of presentation) and MORE (Charlotte Observer) and MORE (Environmental Finance) and MORE (DomesticFuel.com)
Excerpt from Charlotte Observer: Last week, the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services forecast that North Carolina corn farmers would harvest 114 bushels per acre on average, up 30 bushels per acre from last year and above the 10-year average. READ MORE
