Ag, Biofuel Groups Seek RFS Restoration in the Court

A group of agricultural and ethanol and biodiesel organizations joined forces this week in an effort to restore a half-billion-gallon segment of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) mandate. The 500-million-gallon production figure — and major domestic end-user of corn and soybeans — was invalidated by a July 2017 court ruling saying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wasn’t acting in the spirit of the RFS when it granted waivers that kept ethanol and biodiesel out of the consumer fuel complex. Specifically, EPA has yet to restore the Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) associated with the lost gallons. The suit filed this week by groups like the National Corn Growers Association and Renewable Fuels Association says EPA’s actions “brazenly ignore a federal court’s order” and seek a six-month timeframe to restore the RINs to get back into RFS compliance. See more on the new lawsuit.