Aug 12, 2014
By Ken Anderson
As the 2014 Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) rule continues to work its way through the interagency review process in Washington, there are now indications that it may not be made public until after the November elections.
During his weekly conference call with ag reporters, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was asked what he’s hearing about the RFS.
“I haven’t heard anything definitive on RFS that’s anything official,” Grassley says. “My gut feeling—and I think the gut feeling of many other people—is that it’s not going to come out until after the election.”
Speaking at the recent American Coalition for Ethanol conference in Minneapolis, Paul Machiele, director for fuel programs in EPA’s Assessment and Standards Division, said he couldn’t predict how long the review process will take.
“That review period can take anywhere from 30 to 90 days—sometimes 60 days. I don’t know what they’re going to do with this one,” said Machiele.
Grassley hopes the continued delays portend a more positive outcome for the biofuels industry.
“The only good news that I can see in that is that from where they started last November, until now, maybe the delay of their making a decision would indicate that there might not be as an erratic change in policy as what they originally proposed,” Grassley says.
The EPA’s original proposal cut the corn ethanol fuel requirement from a statutory level of 14.4 billion gallons to just over 13 billion gallons. Biofuels supporters lobbied the agency to reverse that decision and move the number closer to the 14.4 billion gallon figure.
Read the original story here : RFS Announcement May Not Come Until After November Elections