Colorado Corn Growers Association Applauds EPA’s ‘Move in The Right Direction’

(High Plains/Midwest AG Journal) – The Colorado Corn Growers Association and corn producers across the country applauded the Environmental Protection Agency’s “move in the right direction,” as the agency released its final rule for 2017 conventional renewable volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

CCGA officials stressed their appreciation to the EPA for choosing to follow the original Renewable Fuel Standard statute from 2007, by setting renewable volume obligations for conventional renewables—largely grain-based ethanol—at 15.0 billion gallons for 2017. In a proposal released earlier this year, the EPA had called for capping conventional renewables at 14.8 billion gallons—above the 2016 RVO of 14.5 billion, but below the 15.0 billion the 2007 RFS statute had set for 2017.

“Several years ago, the RFS was put into law based on the common-sense approach of diversifying our nation’s fuel sources, lessening U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and also on the sound science that shows the reduced overall toxicity of ethanol emissions compared to gasoline,” Colorado Corn CEO Mark Sponsler said. “The ethanol industry and corn producers have done their part for several years in achieving each of those objectives, and then some, and the EPA’s decision today to put the renewable volume obligations back on track with the original RFS statue helps them in continuing their vital mission.”

This summer, several CCGA board members and other producers submitted comments to the EPA regarding the agency’s proposal for renewable volume obligations under the RFS. CCGA’s efforts—which included submitting letters to the editor and other outreach endeavors—helped lead Sen. Michael Bennet to join dozens of other senators in signing onto a letter to the EPA, telling the agency the final rule must promote growth in U.S. biofuels and economic opportunity. CCGA also sent Chris Van Roekel, a CSU mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate, to Kansas to testify at an EPA hearing.

Despite the often-stated misconception, the RFS is not a “subsidy,” as it has zero impact on the federal budget and tax revenues. It’s simply a program designed to provide a measure of market access for lower-carbon, domestic, renewable fuels, in a market where virtually every drop is blended and distributed by petroleum interests.