A public comment period is being held for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding a proposed rule for renewable fuels. The EPA has drafted a supplemental rule that would reallocate renewable fuel gallons that had been waived with small refinery exemptions from President Trump back into the Renewable Fuel Standard. Senator Charles Grassley says he thinks it’s a move in the right direction, “I think that, that there’s a good-faith effort to follow what we decided to do in the Oval Office on September 12th, when we finally got the president to move in a way that would make sure that the law was followed. The law says 15 billion gallons but the law wasn’t being followed under Obama and under this president, and worse under this president because they gave more waivers out. So 15 billion gallons ended up being 13.6 billion gallons. So that’s very harmful, doesn’t follow the law, and so I think then that there’s a lot of negative reaction to this in Iowa and I happen to agree with that negative reaction.” The rule would change the way that annual renewable fuel percentages are calculated for the number of gallons each obligated party is required to blend into their fuel. Grassley encourages constituents to voice their opinions to the EPA, for more information click here. A public hearing will be held October 30th and that will be followed by a 30-day comment period. Final action is expected by the end of the year.

Exemptions for renewable fuels has hurt the market, and has resulted in some biodiesel facilities closing. In Crawfordsville, W2 Fuels has stopped work and has been put on idle, with employees let go until the market improves.