Ethanol industry leaders say they are frustrated by EPA’s latest delay in proposing new volume requirements for biofuels and fear more legal battles are on the way before volumes are finalized next year.
Earlier this week, the EPA and Growth Energy agreed to extend the deadline for the proposed renewable volume obligation until November 30th, but the Renewable Fuels Association says it is just the latest challenge for biofuel producers.
“It’s really discouraging and really disappointing and frustrating, that they had a court-ordered deadline and a court-ordered date on the calendar for getting this proposal out. Giving EPA any further wiggle room to delay publication of the proposal just doesn’t seem like it’s in the best interest of anybody to us,” said RFA’s Geoff Cooper
They say this raises concerns, especially since the proposal will not be finalized until next June.
“There again, we’re going to have a situation like we’ve had in past years, where you’re halfway through a year before EPA is actually finalizing the requirements for that particular year. That creates all kinds of problems for renewable fuel producers, for the obligated parties, it also sets these rules up to be litigated,” Cooper said.
They say this further complicates any direction given to refiners for the coming years. Senator Chuck Grassley is a longtime supporter of U.S. ethanol and he says it is time for action to be taken.
“Government, through these delays, or other ways that the government has interfered, is the biggest enemy that the biofuel industry has, and they ought to either do their business or get off the pot,” said Sen. Grassley.
Growth Energy told the EPA no more extensions will be given. If they miss the November 30th deadline, the ethanol industry says it is ready for legal action.
