32 Senators Sent a Letter to EPA on Biodiesel Volumes: Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) led a letter sent Monday urging EPA to quickly approve strong biodiesel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Yes, you read that right. The US EPA still hasn’t set the volume requirements for the Renewable Fuel Standard for last year. Last year.
Pointing to an industry survey, lawmakers said that nearly 80 percent of U.S. biodiesel producers had scaled back production last year, and that about 60 percent quit production altogether.
Additionally, about 66 percent of biodiesel producers said they have already reduced or anticipate reducing their workforce.
The EPA has said it expects to set the standards for 2014 and 2015 some time this year.
The senators wrote that the EPA delays in implementing the RFS have created “tremendous uncertainty and hardship for the U.S. biodiesel industry and its thousands of employees. Plants have reduced production and some have been forced to shut down, resulting in layoffs and lost economic productivity … We urge you to get biodiesel back on schedule under the statutorily prescribed Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) process and quickly issue volumes for 2014 at the actual 2014 production numbers. We also hope you move forward on the 2015 and 2016 biodiesel volumes in a timely manner.”