Three congressmen respond to 2017 Renewable Fuel Standard requirements

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, recently joined with other congressmen in issuing a statement on the EPA’s final rule on the 2017 requirements for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

In conjunction with Reps. Pete Olson (R-TX), vice chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee; and John Shimkus (R-IL), chairman of the Economy Subcommittee, Upton vowed to continue to evaluate the RFS program, which lays out annually increasing amounts of renewable fuels that must be added to gasoline and diesel fuel through 2022.

“We need to strike the right balance for everyone affected by the RFS – farmers, biofuel producers, refiners, carmakers, and most importantly consumers. We will continue to monitor the program and its impacts,” Upton, Olson and Shimkus said in a joint statement. “We also appreciate that, unlike previous years, EPA finalized its 2017 rule by the deadline, which greatly facilitates compliance.”

This year, the volumes for 2017 are slightly higher than what the EPA proposed, and the final target for corn ethanol is the amount that Congress set in 2007, 15 billion gallons.