The ethanol industry is too well-established in rural American to be dismantled, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told Bloomberg as the deadline nears for an EPA announcement of the so-called ethanol mandate for 2017. “The Renewable Fuels Standard is solid,” Vilsack said.
In a move that pleased no one, the EPA proposed an RFS of 18.8 billion gallons for 2017, up 5 percent from this year. The renewable fuels industry pointed to a 2007 law and said the EPA ought to set a higher target. The petroleum industry says the fuel market is saturated at the traditional 10 percent biofuel blend, so EPA should set a lower RFS. The agency is expected to announce its decision by Nov. 30.
“There’s going to be a lot of saber-rattling, but it supports too many jobs and too much rural infrastructure is set up for it,” Vilsack said in forecasting retention of the RFS by the Trump administration.
Trump campaigned in the Iowa caucuses last winter as a supporter of corn ethanol. Bloomberg said that “in September his campaign published a fact sheet calling for removal of the biofuel blending credit system. His campaign later reissued the fact sheet without the language opposing the system.”
To visit the EPA home page for the RFS, click here.