Bustos, Axne, Craig, Klobuchar Lead Members across Seven States in Urging Administration to Increase Biofuels Usage

September 29, 2021

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(Office of Congresswomen Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17)) Congresswomen Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17), Cindy Axne (D-IA-03), Angie Craig (D-MN-02) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led a bicameral group of Congressional members spanning seven states in a letter urging the Administration to increase biofuels usage and reject any reduction in biofuel blending requirements.

After recent reports that the Administration may be considering lowering the Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs), the group raised serious concerns about the harm a reduction in biofuels usage could cause to the Administrations clean energy goals and economic stability of the renewable fuels marketplace.

“We have strong reservations about the potential for the Administration to destroy over 5 billion gallons of biofuel volume from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 RVOs. This action would directly undermine your commitment to address climate change and restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS),” the letter states. “Every gallon of biofuels that is blended into our nation’s fuel supply displaces a gallon of oil and cuts carbon emissions…Reducing biofuel blending requirements will increase greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Rather than exempting refiners of their obligations under the Clean Air Act, we urge the Administration to provide additional certainty and stability to the renewable fuels marketplace by issuing strong RVOs for 2021 and 2022, and declining to remand any gallons from the 2020 RVO. These actions will create jobs, drive American investment, and cut carbon emissions from the transportation sector.”

The letter was also signed by Reps. Mark Pocan, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Bobby Rush, David Scott, Tim Ryan and Ron Kind, and Senators Dick Durbin, Tammy Duckworth, Tina Smith, Tammy Baldwin and Debbie Stabenow.

In June, Bustos, Axne, Craig and Klobuchar also led 12 bicameral colleagues in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Economic Council (NEC) expressing concern about reports that the agencies were considering exempting oil refiners of their obligations under the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Text of the letter is below:

September 27, 2021

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

President of the United States

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

The Honorable Gina McCarthy

National Climate Advisor

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Biden and Ms. McCarthy:

Thank you for your work to decarbonize our nation’s transportation sector and help the United States achieve a clean energy future. Your efforts are critical to maintaining U.S. competitiveness across the globe while bolstering good-paying, union jobs here at home.

We write today with serious concern about recent reports that the Administration is considering a significant reduction to the annual biofuel blending requirements known as the Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs). Specifically, we have strong reservations about the potential for the Administration to destroy over 5 billion gallons of biofuel volume from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 RVOs. This action would directly undermine your commitment to address climate change and restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

The RFS was designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicle transportation sector, diversify our fuel supply, strengthen our national security, and drive economic opportunity. When allowed to function as Congress intended, the RFS has delivered on these goals while serving as the economic engine behind a burgeoning bio-based manufacturing sector across rural America and a biofuel industry with a 100-percent U.S. supply chain and a higher union density than the national average.

Every gallon of biofuels that is blended into our nation’s fuel supply displaces a gallon of oil and cuts carbon emissions. Multiple studies from academic institutions, federal agencies, and national laboratories have confirmed that corn ethanol (46 percent ), cellulosic ethanol (70 – 126 percent), and biodiesel (66 – 79 percent) are less carbon intensive than gasoline and petroleum diesel. Reducing biofuel blending requirements will increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Congress clearly intended the RFS to be a forward-looking policy to drive investments in biofuels production, lead to the next generation of advanced biofuels, and fuel a clean energy agenda for decades. Rather than exempting refiners of their obligations under the Clean Air Act, we urge the Administration to provide additional certainty and stability to the renewable fuels marketplace by issuing strong RVOs for 2021 and 2022, and declining to remand any gallons from the 2020 RVO. These actions will create jobs, drive American investment, and cut carbon emissions from the transportation sector.

Again, we appreciate your work to address the climate crisis, and we urge you to reject any actions that would reduce the RVOs or exempt oil refiners of their obligations under the RFS.

We look forward to working with you on this important matter. READ MORE

SPEAKING UP ON BIOFUELS: (Politico's Morning Energy)

Iowa politicians united in opposition to biofuel mandate cuts (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

RFS rumors sparking concerns from Congressional members (Farm Progress)

Ethanol Blog: Democratic Members of Congress Ask Biden Administration to Announce RFS Increases (DTN Progressive Farmer)

Lawmakers call on Biden, McCarthy to reject reductions to RFS RVO (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Axne urges Biden Administration to increase biofuels usage (KMLand)

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: SPEAKING UP ON BIOFUELS: Biofuels advocates on Tuesday told the Biden administration that if it cares about climate change, it’ll change course from the proposed biofuel blending targets that leaked last week. The rumored levels, if proposed, would mark “the worst week in Washington for ethanol ever,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley on a call with reporters on Tuesday.

The Iowa Republican called the leaked figures what you’d expect from Big Oil, not from a “green” administration, and called for Corn State senators to pressure the administration before it makes the proposed levels public. “I would hope that there would be an uprise of 28 senators right now, before the White House actually makes it public,” Grassley said. “That they’re going to say, ‘Are you for Big Oil over the family farmer? Are you for spitting out more pollution into the air from more petroleum products than you are for clean-burning biofuels?’ That’s kind of what’s at stake here.”

Not alone: Democratic Reps. Cheri Bustos, Cindy Axne and Angie Craig and Sen. Amy Klobuchar led a letter Tuesday to Biden and national climate adviser Gina McCarthy to express “serious concern” about the rumored levels, particularly the potential to “destroy over 5 billion gallons of biofuel volume from the 2020, 2021, and 2020" obligations. “This action would directly undermine your commitment to address climate change and restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard,” they wrote.

Should the leaked levels be included in the administration’s expected proposal, it would mark a major win for refiners who have called for setting more feasible compliance volumes, particularly amid the pandemic and rising costs. READ MORE