ICGA STATEMENT REGARDING EPA's RVO RULE ANNOUNCEMENT

Becky Finfrock

Nov 21, 2014  |  Today's News

The following is a statement from Gary Hudson, Hindsboro, IL, farmer and president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, in response to today's U.S. EPA announcement related to the Renewable Fuel Standard and the RVO rule.

“EPA's decision to retract their proposed rule is the right one. We've been saying for a year that the Agency had no authority to make such a move. It’s good to see that the Administration recognized this regulatory overreach and stopped it.

“Now we’re eager to see if this move will result in a change in how EPA does business. EPA has made a series of decisions with regard to corn-based ethanol that don’t add up based on science. Our members have worked with their Congressional representatives and farmers in other states to make it clear that we believe EPA is not following through on the President’s promise for science-based decisions. Illinois farmers sent in over 1100 comments to the EPA Docket on this rule, joining thousands of others from around the nation. The choice should be clear.

“As EPA considers where they go from here with the 2014, 2015 and 2016 RVO numbers, they also ought to take a look at their other policy roadblocks that are keeping Americans from accessing homegrown, renewable fuels. The proposed RVO rule was just one in a series of arbitrary market access barriers that EPA has installed.

“We farmers are finishing up a record breaking corn harvest. We’re looking at below break-even corn prices and millions of bushels of corn piling up in temporary and emergency storage. We need every gallon of ethanol we can get to move corn from our farms into the market. The industry needs marketplace certainty to make good decisions over time. And Americans need and deserve a choice at the pump to do what the RFS was designed to accomplish: move our nation away from dependence on foreign oil.”