Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, along with Representative Randy Feenstra, have called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to raise the 2024 and 2025 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuels. The lawmakers argue that the current RVO levels, set last year, fail to align with market conditions and production outlook, leading to biodiesel plant closures, including the announcement in March that REG was “indefinitely idling” its facility in Ralston. In a letter to President Biden and EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the Iowa Republicans highlighted biodiesel’s economic and environmental benefits by citing an analysis by Argonne National Laboratory, which found that 100 percent biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 74 percent compared to petroleum diesel. In their letter, the lawmakers wrote, “Despite the fact that the RFS internally self-corrects when actual fuel demand is less than estimated in the rules, EPA cited COVID-related demand destruction as justification for reopening a rule and reducing the volume obligation. There is no internal correction in the RFS for scenarios where the EPA dramatically misses the mark in projecting ethanol and biodiesel availability and demand. If the EPA has the authority to reopen an RVO rule to reduce volume obligations, then the agency certainly has the authority to do so to increase volumes. With the precedent now set, the EPA should admit its error in forecasting the amount of ethanol and biomass-based diesel in the market for 2024 and 2025 and reopen the rule to increase the biomass-based diesel, overall advanced, and overall volume obligations. Failure to do so will almost certainly result in additional biodiesel plant closures.” Their full letter is included with this story on our website.
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