USEPA APPARENTLY ON TRACK TO HIT ETHANOL DEADLINE

Tricia Braid

Oct 19, 2016  |  Today's News

According to ethanol industry insiders, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has forwarded the 2017 Renewable Fuel Standard RVO number (the total gallons of ethanol to be blended into our nation’s fuel supply) to the Office of Management and Budget for Review. That may indicate that for the first time in a number of years, USEPA will meet the deadline for their rules to be published: Nov 30th.

For 2016, the USEPA pegged the corn ethanol volume number below Congressional intent at 14.5 billion gallons.

“We’re hoping that USEPA, especially in this time of potentially record corn surpluses, will move the corn-ethanol volume numbers to their statutory level of 15 billion gallons a year,” said Dave Loos, IL Corn Technology and Business Development Director.

IL Corn has long said that USEPA should peg the RVO numbers for corn ethanol to the statutory numbers written into law when the RFSII was passed in 2007.

With the potential for record corn carryout in Illinois and beyond, USEPA needs to support this market and not succumb to the pressures of the oil industry.