WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new television ad launched today by Growth Energy, the nation’s top ethanol advocate, casts a spotlight on the repeated calls from rural America for pro-biofuel policies from President Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This new ad follows a field hearing in Ypsilanti, Michigan held by the EPA on the topic this week.

“Rural America is hurting, and these communities are counting on President Trump and his administration to uphold his promise to support biofuels,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “The EPA could immediately restore hundreds of millions of bushels of demand to the agricultural market by unleashing more homegrown biofuels. American farmers are ready to compete, and the biofuels produced from their crops will revitalize rural growth, increase American energy security, and provide much-needed relief from rising gasoline prices.”

Slated to air on Fox News, the ad gives voice to many Midwest farmers who have been hardest hit by the ongoing agricultural crisis and attacks on crop-based biofuels. They ask President Trump to ensure that new EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler reverse the demand destruction caused by federal waivers, restore integrity to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and lift outdated restrictions on the sale of ethanol blends, namely E15 – regulations that President Trump called “unnecessary and ridiculous.”

The new ad is the latest salvo in Growth Energy’s ongoing campaign to expand domestic markets for clean, low-cost biofuels. As part of the effort, elected leaders have joined farm and business champions from across the Midwest to demand that EPA lift regulations that limit the sales of E15 during the summer. Additionally, Growth Energy recently launched an action center to ensure rural America’s voice is heard during the EPA’s open comment period for the proposed biofuel targets for 2019. They also have rallied against anti-ethanol waivers granted to major oil refiners by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who departed shortly after proposing these controversial biofuel targets for 2019. Those targets are now under review by Mr. Wheeler.

“Farmers cannot afford to be locked out of the energy market for another driving season,” added Skor.

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Press Contact: 

Leigh Claffey

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