NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Paul Winters
202-737-8801
pwinters@biodiesel.org
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, World Energy Founder and
CEO Gene Gebolys testified on behalf of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) at a
hearing on "Protecting the RFS: The Trump Administration's Abuse of Secret
Waivers" before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on
Environment and Climate Change. Gebolys told lawmakers that the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has many options to make up for the demand destruction
from past Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) waivers and prevent harm going forward.
Small refinery exemptions have destroyed demand for hundreds of millions of
gallons of biomass-based diesel. Nine biodiesel plants across the country have
closed or cut production as a result, impacting hundreds of employees and
thousands of jobs across the economy.
"When
EPA finalizes its 2020 renewable fuel obligations rule by the end of this year,
it must fully account for small refinery exemptions, or industry contraction
and job losses will continue throughout the biofuels and broader agricultural
economy," Gebolys wrote in submitted testimony. "Moreover, the agency
must recognize and support the biodiesel industry's ability to grow under the
RFS in 2020 and beyond, as Congress intended."
Gebolys
is the founder and CEO of World Energy, which owns and operates five biodiesel
plants and a renewable diesel refinery -- with total production capacity of
over 200 million gallons -- and distribution hubs throughout the United States
and Canada.
Gebolys
testified that EPA could employ several different methods to properly account
for small refinery exemptions in annual Renewable Fuel Standard rules.
"EPA
should also move to prospectively grant or deny all small-refinery exemptions
for a calendar year before issuing the final RVO rule for that year," he
wrote in formal testimony. "This practice would allow all actual
exemptions to be accounted for in EPA's existing formula for calculating
percentage standards and would enhance transparency for all market
participants. EPA can and should require refiners to apply for exemptions with
sufficient time to allow EPA to reach a decision by the November 30 statutory
deadline each year."
NBB
and its members support H.R. 3006, which would direct EPA to set an annual
deadline for hardship petitions, as well as other legislative efforts to direct
EPA to properly account for small refinery exemptions.
Gebolys'
testimony is available on the Energy & Commerce Committee website.
Made
from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil,
soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel
replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification.
It is the nation's first domestically produced, commercially available advanced
biofuel. NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel
value chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers, and fuel distributors,
as well as the U.S. renewable diesel industry.
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For more about biodiesel, visit www.biodiesel.org.