Today we head to Minnesota's Second Congressional District where incumbent candidate, Rep. Jason Lewis, is up against Angie Craig. While there are no ethanol plants in this district, it is home to 21 companies that work with Minnesota's ethanol industry and 68 fuel retailers that offer higher blends of ethanol. Here are their answers to our questionnaire:
Jason Lewis (R)
Q. The Renewable Fuel Standard calls for the use of increasing amounts of ethanol to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Do you support the Renewable Fuel Standard?
A. Renewable fuels like Ethanol and bio-diesel are here to stay. What was once an effort to reduce dependence on fuel imports has now become not only common practice, but is becoming demand driven. More and more I hear from constituents who want to take advantage of the cheaper fuel options and I meet with retailers who want to sell renewable fuels to them. I think the RFS has served a principled purpose. It has brought about increased research and development in the agriculture space, in fuel and fuel additives, in the manufacturing of automobiles and efficiencies, and in reducing waste while decreasing standard pollution. The RFS allowed a new market to develop in a space that has been long dominated by incessant players. However, as a principled conservative who favors little government intervention and supports market-driven solutions, I believe there should be a day that the RFS is no longer needed and at that time renewable fuels will be able to stand on their own. Likewise, I think it is time the government not chose any winners and losers in the energy and fuel spaces. At the same time, we expect bio-fuels to prove themselves in the market, we also need to remove the incentives and subsidies given to every other type of energy production – possibly an impossible task in today’s political atmosphere. Therefore, until we stop propping up almost every other source of energy, the RFS should remain intact.
Q. This year, the EPA has granted RFS waivers to 48 small refiners for the years 2016 and 2017, representing an estimated 2.25 billion gallons of ethanol. Do you support the EPA's actions? If no, will you pressure the EPA and the Trump Administration to halt issuing RFS waivers for 2018 and beyond, to identify the recipients of the 2016 and 2017 waivers and lastly, to reallocate the 2.25 billion gallons of ethanol that were lost due to the 2016 and 2017 waivers?
A. I have been pleased to see Acting Administrator Wheeler take a more thoughtful approach to implementing and pursuing EPA actions across the board. He seems to understand that there are widespread effects to his actions, more so than the previous Administrator. Under current law, the RFS needs to be set and met. Providing waiver to refineries should not reduce the overall RFS benchmark.
Q. At present, E15 cannot be sold in the summer months since Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) regulations have not kept pace with the addition of E15 into the fuel market. Would you fix this problem by a Congressional Act, similar to how E10 (10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline) was handled? Or, would you try to expedite the solution by pushing the White House and EPA to use existing regulatory authority to give E15 the same RVP treatment as E10?
A. I recently sent a letter to Acting EPA Administrator Wheeler asking him to provide E15 and other (and future) fuel blends with the same one-pound waiver that has been issued for E10. I would support similar actions in Congress, but until we can take legislative action I will continue to work with the EPA on this issue.
Q. The number of stations offering E15 in Minnesota has increased exponentially the last two years (nearly 300 at present) and a big reason for this increase was the financial assistance provided by the federal government's Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership program for storage and dispensing equipment upgrades. Would you support renewing funding for this program so that even more stations in Minnesota can offer E15?
A. BIP is unique in that it is not directly reliant on the Congressional appropriations process. Instead, it is funded at the discretion of the Commodity Credit Corporation, which uses a revolving fund in order to carry out its statutory missions, including increasing the domestic consumption of agriculture commodities. The CCC could absolutely pursue additional BIP grants and Minnesota would be well situated to take advantage – in the past, we received about eight percent of all program dollars. Additionally, as Congress looks at ways to discipline federal spending across the board we see increased attention being given to federal, state, local, and private partnerships. BIP would fall in this category as it operated as a matching grant.
Angie Craig (D)
Q. The Renewable Fuel Standard calls for the use of increasing amounts of ethanol to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Do you support the Renewable Fuel Standard?
A. I fully support the Renewable Fuel Standard, and will support an expansion of it as a member of Congress.
Q. This year, the EPA has granted RFS waivers to 48 small refiners for the years 2016 and 2017, representing an estimated 2.25 billion gallons of ethanol. Do you support the EPA's actions? If no, will you pressure the EPA and the Trump Administration to halt issuing RFS waivers for 2018 and beyond, to identify the recipients of the 2016 and 2017 waivers and lastly, to reallocate the 2.25 billion gallons of ethanol that were lost due to the 2016 and 2017 waivers?
A. I do not support the EPA’s actions in granting these waivers, and fully plan to pressure the EPA and the Trump administration to halt issues future RFS waivers, identify their recipients from 2016 and 2017, and reallocate the 2.25 billion gallons of ethanol that were lost due to these waivers. Additionally, I will also support a legislative fix for this so that future administrations cannot capriciously undercut the ethanol market.
Q. At present, E15 cannot be sold in the summer months since Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) regulations have not kept pace with the addition of E15 into the fuel market. Would you fix this problem by a Congressional Act, similar to how E10 (10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline) was handled? Or, would you try to expedite the solution by pushing the White House and EPA to use existing regulatory authority to give E15 the same RVP treatment as E10?
A. As a member of Congress, I will push for an expedited solution from the White House and EPA to give E15 the same RVP treatment as E10, while pursuing a permanent legislative fix to the problem.
Q. The number of stations offering E15 in Minnesota has increased exponentially the last two years (nearly 300 at present) and a big reason for this increase was the financial assistance provided by the federal government's Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership program for storage and dispensing equipment upgrades. Would you support renewing funding for this program so that even more stations in Minnesota can offer E15?
A. I will wholeheartedly support renewed funding for the Biofuels Infrastructure Partnership program when I’m a member of Congress.
Candidates and Biofuels Election 2018 Archives:
US Rep MN 1: Dan Feehan Vs Jim Hagedorn
MN District 04B: Paul Marquart
MN District 27B: Jeanne Poppe
MN District 16B: Marinda Kimmel Vs Paul Torkelson
MN District 55A: Brad Tabke
MN District 27A: Peggy Bennett
MN District 08A: Bud Nornes
MN District 24A: John Petersburg Vs Joe Heegard
MN District 28B: Gregory Davids Vs Thomas Trehus
MN District 23A: Bob Gunther Vs Heather Klassen
MN District 22B: Rod Hamilton Vs Cheniqua Johnson
MN District 18B: Ashley Latzke Vs Glenn Gruenhagen
MN District 12B: Paul Anderson Vs Ben Schirmers