Durbin: EPA Renewable Fuel Standard "Seriously Missed the Mark"

Press Release

After meeting with members of the Illinois Farm Bureau, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today reiterated his serious concerns regarding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal to reduce the renewable volume obligations (RVOs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan, Durbin urged the agency to thoroughly review the proposal, and work toward a final rule that promotes investments in the next generation biofuels and the infrastructure necessary to bring those fuels into the market.

Durbin has worked with members of Illinois' agriculture community and biofuels industry to evaluate the potential impact of the proposed waiver. In addition to meeting with the Illinois Farm Bureau today, Durbin is also expected to meet with the Illinois Farmers Union and the Illinois Soybean Association later this week.

"The Administration's proposed change to the Renewable Fuel Standard seriously missed the mark," Durbin said. "As written, it would not only undermine our nation's progress toward domestic energy independence, it would also threaten the thousands of jobs supported by our biofuels industry -- including 5,400 in Illinois. I will continue to work with Illinois stakeholders like the Farm Bureau to find a better alternative that moves the biofuels industry forward, and not back."

In January 2014, Durbin led a bipartisan group of Senators in writing to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy urging the agency to firmly support the future of biofuels and revise its proposed waiver of the RFS. The Senators shared their concerns regarding the proposed rule's potential impact on our nation's energy security, the environment, and economic growth, particularly in rural communities.

In December 2013, Durbin joined a bipartisan group of Senators in a meeting on Capitol Hill with McCarthy to protest the agency's RFS proposal. In November, Durbin also joined thirty-one members of the U.S. Senate in sending a letter to McCarthy, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and former Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell encouraging the agencies not to decrease the RFS.

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