Davis Introduces Pro-Ethanol Legislation

(The Telegraph) Local ethanol officials are lauding the Small Refinery Exeption Fairness Act of 2019 introduced Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville. Davis introduced the bill after the EPA continues to increase the number of small refineries exempted from the Renewable Fuel Standard. Davis’ bill would require the EPA administrator to use the average number of Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) granted in the previous three calendar years when formulating the Renewable Volumes Obligations (SVO) for an upcoming year.

Requiring the EPA to use realistic estimates of the number of SREs they will grant rather than stating they plan to grant zero when calculating their annual RVO will give industry some degree of certainty and effectively relocate some of the lost gallons that were detrimental to the renewable fuels industry when, most recently, the EPA announced that they had granted 31 SREs.

In an effort to incentivize the agency to issue fewer exemptions, his bill does not set a minimum number of waivers that the EPA should grant.

John Caupert, executive director of the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, said it supports Davis’ proposed legislation, saying it brings relief to the ethanol and agriculture industries from the recent increase in granting of small refinery exemptions. READ MORE