STATEMENT REGARDING COURT’S RULING ON EPA’S RVO METHODOLOGIES

Tricia Braid

Jul 28, 2017  |  Today's News |  ICGA |  Ethanol |  Legislation & Regulation

 BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— Illinois Corn Growers Association President Justin Durdan, a farmer from Utica, issued the following statement regarding the decision made today by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in which the court struck down the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) flawed methodology used to reduce the 2016 total Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

 

“The Illinois Corn Growers Association is pleased with the court’s decision today as it falls directly in line with the comments we’ve been making to the EPA for years. ICGA members have written hundreds of comments to the EPA over time, pointing out EPA’s flawed methodology in establishing the yearly RVO numbers under the RFS. To see the court back us up is quite gratifying. Corn farmers in Illinois should see this as a win and an affirmation of their position on the issue as it has been demonstrated time and time again.

 

“The court confirmed our longtime position that EPA’s interpretation that a lack of demand equated to an ‘inadequate domestic supply’ was completely wrong. This is basic economics here. There was never a supply side issue, but the EPA’s faulty methodology gave them the reason they were looking for to roll back the RVO numbers for the last three years. As corn farmers, we always knew that we had enough corn supply to meet the Congressionally mandated level of renewable fuel in the nation’s fuel supply.

 

“It’s high time that EPA’s bad methodology was turned around by the courts. By one estimate, the industry has already lost over 800 million bushels of potential corn grind due to this nonsensical rulemaking that EPA promulgated in 2014, 2015, and 2016.”