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December 12, 2014
On December 3, the Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to examine EPA’s management of the Renewable Fuel Standard program. During the hearing, Republican and Democratic lawmakers grilled EPA Acting Administrator of Air and Radiation Janet McCabe on the year-plus delay of the new Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) – the amount of biofuels that must be blended into the transportation fuel supply. Not only did committee members ask McCabe when, exactly, the 2014 and 2015 fuel volumes would be released, Chairman James Lankford (R-OK) also repeatedly raised the possibility of re-visiting the original statute. He referred to decreasing gasoline use in the United States, increasing domestic oil production, and environmental concerns to air and water quality.
Statements from the Chairman, as well as those from Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA), who has several refineries in his district, again raise the possibility that bills severely diminishing the statute could be brought forward in the 114th Congress. Rep. Lankford did not mince words on his views of renewable fuels in his opening statement, saying, “We’re moving backwards, not forwards. Ethanol mandates were created in the mid 2000s to help us produce energy domestically. Because it was assumed we were running out of oil.”
For more information see:
Examining EPA’s Management of the Renewable Fuel Standard Program, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Lawmakers frustrated at EPA over ethanol mandate delay, The Hill
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