Legislation introduced Tuesday in the U.S. House would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from retroactively reducing ethanol blending requirements.
Ethanol groups are praising the Defend the Blend Act, which would prohibit the EPA from reducing the minimum applicable volume of biofuels into transportation fuel once renewable volume obligations are finalized for any given year.
The Renewable Fuels Association says retroactively slashing renewable volume obligations long after they have been set would throw the RFS program into turmoil and reward a small group of defiant oil refiners for their bad behavior. ACE Ethanol agrees, saying the RFS was a well-written piece of legislation, and this bill would help keep EPA from continuing to play politics when it comes to administering the program.
