Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Louisiana and Alabama are drawing ire from ag groups over a request to partly water down biofuel-blending rules. The states cite high fuel prices, an argument RFA calls “absurd.” If EPA grants the petition, it will harm ag markets and rural economies, the American Soybean Association says. Farm and biofuel groups are pushing back on an effort by some big petroleum states to partly roll back federal biofuel-blending requirements, warning the Trump administration that such a move would harm ag markets and rural communities.

At issue are requests by governors of Louisiana and Alabama for the Environmental Protection Agency to partly waive the Renewable Fuel Standard blending levels for next year, citing high fuel prices. “Any suggestion that ethanol blending compelled by the RFS is somehow raising gas prices is abjectly absurd and demonstrably false,” Renewable Fuels Association CEO Geoff Cooper said in a statement. “Far from delivering ‘relief’ at the pump, a waiver of the 2027 RFS requirements would remove a dependable source of lower-cost, lower-carbon fuel from the marketplace and cause higher gas prices.”

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