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Reynolds, Ricketts call on EPA to reallocate lost ethanol gallons

The governors of Iowa and Nebraska are calling on the EPA to reallocate the gallons of ethanol that have been lost because of RFS small refinery waivers.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, in a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, said the exemptions have reduced ethanol demand and corn usage. She said the agency needs to bring transparency to the exemption process.

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts made similar comments in speech last week at the American Coalition for Ethanol conference in Omaha.

“There’s got to be a better process for this. There’s got to be more transparency for this,” Ricketts said, “and the EPA has got to figure out a way to restore those obligations.”

Ricketts said EPA needs to follow the law that Congress passed.

“Congress set out volume obligations. If the EPA is going to release some people from those obligations, they ought to restore that someplace else,” he said. “It’s a matter of common sense—and the EPA has got to figure this out.”

Iowa’s Reynolds says the latest round of exemptions destroyed an additional 1.4 billion gallons of biofuel demand. She says that equates to over 500 million bushels of corn.

Reynold’s letter to Wheeler was co-signed by Iowa ag secretary Mike Naig.