Lankford, Capito send letter to EPA opposing ethanol mandate expansion

 

 Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and his colleagues in a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler concerning the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2021.

They are asking the EPA Administrator to use his statutory authority under the Clean Air Act to cite “severe economic harm” and grant a general waiver to not increase the RVO for 2021.

The Senators contend COVID-19 has suppressed demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel and any increase in the RVO mandate would cause “severe and outsized economic harm next year by raising costs for consumers, particularly at the gas pump.”

Additionally, the letter urges the EPA to not reallocate prior year obligations that would increase burdens on refiners of all sizes, including small refiners.

“Any increase in blending volumes mandated under the RFS, especially an expansion of the 2021 RVO, would ultimately impact American consumers forced to bear the associated costs, creating another drag on a national economy that is in a state of fragile recovery from the depths of the pandemic. It is essential that you use all available statutory authorities to see to it that these unnecessary impacts are avoided,” the senators wrote.

The full letter can be viewed here.

Source: Sen. James Lankford