By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A plan released Oct. 15 by the U.S EPA doesn’t live up to what President Trump earlier promised would make up for biofuel production losses as a result of waivers granted to oil refineries. The agency will host another public hearing in Michigan on it later this month.

That’s according to outraged farm and renewable fuel groups, along with lawmakers from major corn and soybean producing states rallying behind a last-minute push to lobby for biofuel volumes originally mandated at the federal level.

“This proposal goes against the core of President Trump’s deal that we continue to support. We will work with our elected champions and the President to get the deal he proposed,” said Monte Shaw, director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Assoc.

Since Trump took office, the administration has granted 85 waivers of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to oil refineries. The exemptions allowing the refineries not to blend ethanol in their fuels as mandated under the RFS are cited as factors in ethanol plants closing or cutting production, and adding to the hurt on farmers struggling with an extended downturn in crop prices.

According to industry officials, these exemptions resulted in 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel not being blended in gasoline and loss in demand for 1.4 billion bushels of corn used to make ethanol.

Under the Clean Air Act, small refineries producing fewer than 75,000 barrels per day are eligible to apply for a waiver if the cost of blending ethanol into gasoline and buying credits to comply with the RFS would place their facility under “economic hardship.”

On Oct. 4, the administration said it would make up for the lost demand for ethanol by using a three-year average of the actual number of renewable fuel gallons waived, and force oil refineries to blend more ethanol in gasoline next year to make up for waivers granted this year.

EPA’s plan would replace the number of lost gallons by the amount the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) had forecast waiving, not what the EPA actually waived. As a result, the 1.4 billion gallons waived in 2018 would be replaced by the 770 million gallons DOE had forecast for exemption.

“Relying on DOE forecasts does not assure rural stakeholders, the markets, or investors that EPA is going to abide by the President’s intentions going forward and truly protect RFS volumes,” said Rob Shaffer, chair of the American Soybean Assoc.’s Biodiesel and Infrastructure Committee.

“President Trump made a commitment to farmers and instructed the EPA to follow the law, but this proposal appears to come up short again,” said Kevin Ross, president of the National Corn Growers Assoc.

Rob Larew, vice president of public policy and communications for the National Farmers Union, said the EPA plan adds to a long string of broken promises to family farmers and half-hearted support from the nation’s capital.

“If this administration wants to earn back their trust, they must make the biofuels industry whole by accounting for all of the gallons lost to these exemptions,” he stated.

Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs for the National Biodiesel Board, said the EPA plan was never proposed or even mentioned during previous negotiations with the administration. “The biodiesel industry will work diligently with all appropriate federal agencies to ensure that the final rule scrupulously fulfills President Trump’s promise to soybean farmers and biodiesel producers.”

Accusations of favoritism toward major oil companies were among the other reactions from opponents of the EPA plan. U.S Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) said the number of exemptions constitutes abuse of the RFS, and EPA wanting to fix just part of the damage is like adding salt to the wound.

“I will continue to fight back against proposals that fall short of what was promised and work to uphold the integrity of the RFS. It is past time our farmers and biofuel producers have the certainty they need to help provide our nation with clean, renewable fuel,” he said.

EPA hopes to finalize the measure before the end of the year. It will hold a public hearing on the proposal on Oct. 30 at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest, 1275 S. Huron Street in Ypsilanti, Mich., beginning at 9 a.m.; this will be followed by a 30-day comment period.

A complete set of documents related to the proposal will be available for public inspection through www.regulations.gov by searching with the docket number EPA-HQ-OAR-2019-0136.