Advanced BioFuels USA

by John Herath (Farm Journal Ag Web)  If elected president, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) plans to immediately roll back all of the small refinery exemptions made to the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Klobuchar made the pledge on the AgriTalk Radio show talking with host, Chip Flory.

“We have 137 things we found that a new president,  myself, could do without Congress that are legal, I would point out, and one of them is to look back at all the oil waivers that have been granted, sometimes to big companies like Exxon and Chevron, Klobuchar said. “Those can actually be reversed without any act of Congress or waiting around.”

The EPA has granted 31 small refinery exemptions to the ethanol blending requirements of the RFS, reducing the required ethanol usage by more than 4 billion gallons. There are an additional 21 waiver requests being considered by EPA.

“I think we should be investing in the farmers and the workers of the Midwest instead of the oil cartels of the Mideast,” Klobuchar said.

The senator covered a wide range of agricultural issues on the radio interview:  READ MORE includes AUDIO

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: (Politico’s Morning Energy)

Excerpt from Politico’s Morning Energy:  ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Even before Friday’s ruling, the Trump administration’s handling of the RFS was providing fodder for Democrats campaigning in Iowa, Eric reports this morning.

Nearly all the Democratic candidates have been vocal in their support for ethanol as they’ve blasted the Trump administration’s use of the small refinery exemptions. Three Democratic candidates — Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and billionaire investor Tom Steyer — have used national air time during debates to criticize the Trump EPA’s use of those waivers.

Biofuel advocates say that’s a big change from 2016 when the Democratic front-runners would hardly mention ethanol. “They wouldn’t talk about corn-based ethanol, they would talk about advanced biofuels,” said Delayne Johnson, CEO of Quad County Corn Processors, an Iowa ethanol producer. Democrats this cycle, he added, “understand it’s critical to swing states here in the Midwest. It will either allow Trump to be reelected or allow Democrats to swing these states in their direction.”

But the support has also irked green activists, who see the Democrats’ ethanol support as undermining the candidates’ promises to take aggressive action on climate. Greens have criticized the ethanol program, arguing it contributes to climate change, threatens wildlife habitats and pollutes water. “You cannot be both a champion on climate and unequivocal cheerleader for ethanol,” said David DeGennaro, climate and biofuel policy expert at the National Wildlife Federation. “We need our leaders to be serious about addressing climate change and move on from the ethanol mandate.”  READ MORE