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State corn leaders write Trump about RFS

-The Hagstrom Report

State leaders of corn grower organizations in 23 states sent a letter to President Trump, “calling on him to follow the law and keep the Renewable Fuel Standard whole,” the National Corn Growers Association said in a news release Friday.

The White House has been working on a proposal to appease the corn-based ethanol industry over their anger about the Trump administration’s most recent approval of 31 waivers from RFS requirements.

The waivers are supposed to be for small refineries, but the ethanol and corn industries maintain they are going to big oil companies.



“The 85 total waivers approved under the Trump Administration amount to 4.04 billion gallons, resulting in reduced corn demand due to lower ethanol blending and consumption and a rising number of ethanol producers slowing or idling production,” NCGA said.

The state corn grower leaders urged the president to stop the harm caused by waivers and restore integrity to the RFS by directing the Environmental Protection Agency to account for projected waivers beginning with the pending 2020 RFS volume rule.



“Ethanol plants in several states, including Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota and Mississippi, have closed or idled,” the state corn growers wrote.

“These closures have cost 2,700 rural jobs and impacted demand for more than 300 million bushels of corn. Corn farmers are beginning harvest and continuing to lose markets to deliver their corn. Frustration in the countryside is growing.”

“Corn farmers are not asking for a special deal,” the letter said. “We are simply asking, as we have been for the past two years, that your EPA uphold the law.

“To effectively stop the harm caused by RFS waivers, EPA needs to account for projected waivers beginning with the pending 2020 RFS volume rule.”


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