Senators issue letter in support of strong RFS
By Erin Voegele, Biomass Magazine.
A group of 39 senators have issued a letter to the U.S. EPA advocating for a strong renewable fuel standard (RFS) that will support U.S. jobs and the economy, reduce the environmental impact of the transportation and energy sectors, and decrease dependence on foreign oil.
According to the senators, when Congress adopted the RFS “it intended to put in place a stable, forward-looking policy to drive innovation and investments in biorefining capacity and distribution infrastructure to bring biofuels to American consumers.”
In the letter, the senators note that the stability of the RFS policy has led to hundreds of millions being invested in the U.S. biofuels sector, with production capacity expanding more than threefold since 2005. The industry supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, reduces the environmental impact the transportation and energy sectors, and reduces reliance on foreign oil. However, the senators stress that the EPA’s consideration of distribution infrastructure when setting RFS obligations—which is contrary to the clearly defined waiver authority granted by Congress—has caused biofuel investment to fall and projects to move overseas.