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Farm groups caution Trump against weakening the RFS
National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson
Six prominent farm organizations are cautioning President Trump against weakening the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
The groups sent a letter to Trump Monday just ahead of his meeting Tuesday with senior administration officials and lawmakers to discuss possible changes to the RFS.
National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson says they wanted to remind Trump of his commitment to biofuels.
“President Trump campaigned in support of the RFS. He has made it clear so far through his presidency that he supports the RFS. And we want to make sure that that remains the case,” Johnson says.
The latest round of tensions over the RFS are tied to the bankruptcy of East Coast oil refiner Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), which blames the high cost of biofuel credits, or RINs, for its financial problems. But Johnson says PES’ issues were caused by mismanagement and are not indicative of the refining industry as a whole.
“Many of them are very profitable and they’re managing it (RINs) and other things differently,” he says, “and so to sort of look at this one refinery and say we’re going to throw all the ethanol industry under the bus—in the name of one broke oil refinery—would be an enormous mistake.”
Johnson says a proposed cap on RIN prices would decimate the RFS because it would remove the economic incentive for refiners to blend ethanol into the fuel stocks. He says the best solution is to allow year-round sales of E15, which he says would drive down the cost of RINs.
Other groups signing the letter to Trump were the American Farm Bureau, National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Grain Sorghum Producers and National Association of Wheat Growers.
AUDIO: Roger Johnson
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