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Van Orden says new Council needed to advance year-round E15

A Wisconsin Congressman says forming the Rural Domestic Energy Council was necessary to move nationwide year-round E15 forward.

Third District Republican Derrick Van Orden says the failure to include E15 language in last week’s spending bill breaks down to a shouting match between big and small oil refineries. “The big refineries wanted stuff. The small refineries wanted things, and we have people on both sides that represent, like Harriet Hageman, she doesn’t have a big refinery in the whole state of Wyoming, so if this would have been in there, she wouldn’t have voted for the bill and then the funding bill wouldn’t go through, and the government would shut down.

Van Orden says forming the Rural Domestic Energy Council is the right move, as it forces Congress to reach a consensus quickly. “We want the legislation done by the 15th (of February) so it can be circulated for ten days. That’s the rough plan right now.”

Van Orden says President Trump supports E15 and with Congressional action or with another waiver, consumers will have a ruling on E15 soon so farmers, refiners, and the supply chain are ready for this summer.

Van Orden says he’s frustrated the U.S. doesn’t already have year-round nationwide E15, and he wants to make sure the council’s discussion does not reset or rehash years of work already completed but instead builds on existing agreements and negotiations to deliver real, actionable results for farmers and ethanol producers.  Van Orden says he would like to make the council permanent to address other issues including renewable diesel, and he says a similar council should be formed to hammer out a consensus on ag labor.VanOrden says larger refineries have been skirting the intentions of existing law.  “These larger conglomerates have been getting a bunch of small refineries and operating them under a large umbrella and saying that they’re independent small refineries, which they’re not. 

AUDIO: Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden discusses year-round E15 and the need for the new Rural Domestic Energy Council with Brownfield’s Larry Lee.