TOP STORY

No CCC Money for Oil Refiners

On Tuesday night, the House of Representatives easily passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the government through mid-December by a vote of 359 to 57. The funding measure included replenishment of USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), a revolving fund used to provide payments to farmers and special assistance programs in times of need. The Senate is expected to pass this bill, too.

Following reports that the White House was interested in using CCC funds to make payments to refineries that had been denied “gap year” SREs last week, the bill also prohibits using CCC funds to make these payments. Even without this prohibition, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue also said USDA did not have legal authority to make CCC payments to refiners.

This is a notable win for the biofuels industry, and we are grateful to our congressional champions, like Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and Representative Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), for their work in securing this clarification in the Continuing Resolution.

For more details, contact Vice President of Government Affairs John Fuher.

IN GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

RFS Integrity Act Moves Forward in the House

Growth Energy applauded the inclusion of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Integrity Act in clean energy legislation (H.R. 4447) being considered by the House as early as today. The RFS Integrity Act, authored by Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Collin Peterson (D-MN), along with Reps. Dusty Johnson (SD-At Large), Dave Loebsack (IA-04), Rodney Davis (IL-13), and Roger Marshall (KS-01), would bring much-needed transparency to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) secretive small refinery exemption (SRE) process and ensure refiners meet biofuel blending requirements.  

Currently, refiners have no clear deadline from EPA for submitting a request for an SRE. The bipartisan Renewable Fuel Standard Integrity Act explicitly sets the deadline for refineries to submit an application for an SRE by June 1st in the year prior to the year in which the biofuel targets go into effect. Additionally, the legislation increases transparency into the SRE application process, allowing the public greater insight into who is receiving these waivers and why. 

“After years of EPA mismanagement, this legislation would finally give farmers and biofuel producers a long-overdue peek at EPA’s secretive and destructive process,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “EPA’s lack of transparency on refinery exemptions sends mixed signals to the market and leaves billions of gallons of demand at the mercy of regulatory whim. This long-overdue fix would begin to close the book on abuse and put rural America on a stable footing while we rebuild the agricultural supply chain. We’re grateful to Chairman Peterson and his co-sponsors for their efforts to get this critical legislation through the House of Representatives and on to the Senate.” 

Growth Energy Issues Letter of Support for Axne, Bustos Carbon Capture Amendment

Today, the House is likely to vote on a biofuels amendment introduced by Reps. Cindy Axne (IA-3) and Cheri Bustos (IL-17) in the House energy package, H.R. 4447, the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act. The amendment would allow biofuel facilities to be eligible for funding under the bill’s Carbon Capture Program, a section which promotes research and development for commercial applications of carbon capture technologies.

Growth Energy wrote a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee urging Members to vote yes when the amendment reaches the floor for a vote.

This type of funding would strengthen our nation’s ethanol plants to continue innovating and improving methods capture, clean, and condense a pure-stream of carbon dioxide for multiple uses across several industries.

For more details, contact Vice President of Government Affairs John Fuher.

IN REGULATORY AFFIARS

EPA Delivers Final Fuels Regulatory Streamlining Rule To OMB

On September 17, EPA delivered its' final Fuels Regulatory Streamlining rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget. According to the EPA, the rulemaking would streamline existing fuel quality regulations by removing expired provisions, eliminating redundant compliance provisions, such as duplicative registration requirements that are required by every EPA fuels program, and removing unnecessary and out-of-date requirements.

Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley testified in May of this year on EPA's proposed rule, and he applauded the agency’s efforts to streamline the current requirements while cautioning against any changes that would negatively impact the availability of E15, a fuel blended with 15 percent ethanol.

We will continue to keep you up to date on the progress of the Fuels Regulatory Streamlining rule. 

For more details, contact Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley.

IN GLOBAL MARKETS

Willis Participates in Virtual Ethanol Buyers Market

On Wednesday, Growth Energy co-sponsored a Virtual Ethanol Buyers conference with U.S. Grains Council and the Renewable Fuels Association. Ethanol buyers from around the globe met one-on-one with many exporting Growth Energy members. Attendees also listened to Juan Sacoto of IHS Markit discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on U.S. and global fuel market, while Growth’s Craig Willis discussed the domestic ethanol supply, ethanol’s economic advantages, and its role in decarbonization for governments around the globe.

For more details, contact Senior Vice President of Global Markets Craig Willis.

IN MARKET DEVELOPMENT

New E15 Compatibility Graphic Available

The Growth Energy Market Development team is excited to share with you a new E15 compatibility graphic. This was posted last week to the 23,000 Convenience Store Product-maker audience and can be found on Growth Energy's Retailer Hub here. 

For more details, contact Vice President of Market Development Mike O'Brien.

The Weekly Rundown is the weekly newsletter for Growth Energy's members. It is published weekly by the communications staff at Growth Energy. For more information, email team@growthenergy.org or visit our website GrowthEnergy.org. 

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