Shaw hopes Biden?s pick to lead EPA enforces RFS

by | Dec 21, 2020 | 5 Ag Stories, News

Leaders with the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association are looking forward to working with the Biden Administration?s new leader of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Last week, President-elect Joe Biden selected Michael Regan to head the EPA. Regan most recently led the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. IRFA executive director Monte Shaw is hopeful the new EPA administrator will prioritize ethanol and the biofuels industry.

?We?re going to try to work our best with whoever is in there,? Shaw said. ?We don?t have a track record with Michael Regan. I?ll admit, I?m not that knowledgeable of him, but our goals aren?t going to change regardless of who?s in there. We want to see the Renewable Fuel Standard properly enforced and implemented. We don?t want to see it manipulated and degraded like it was with the abuse of the small refinery exemptions and things of that nature.?

Shaw would also like to see better marketing strategies for E15.

?It is in the EPA?s power to make it a lot easier for retailers to sell E15,? Shaw said. ?It has to do with the marketing and labeling requirements, but also the EPA really needs to recognize that the fueling infrastructure out there today is capable of very safely handling E15. If we recognize that, retailers could simply move that in and not have to spend a lot of money to change out equipment ? not because they need to, but because it?s a regulation.?

Number one in the nation for biofuels production, Iowa has 43 ethanol plants capable of producing over 4.5 billion gallons annually, including 34 million gallons of annual cellulosic ethanol production capacity. In addition, Iowa has 11 biodiesel plants with the capacity to produce nearly 400 million gallons annually.