What is in this article?:
- Ethanol use in gasoline production would be the same with or without RFS waiver
- Waiver denied
- Congressional requirements for RFS waiver not met.
- Waiving the RFS would have little, if any, impact on ethanol demand or energy prices over the time period analyzed, according to EPA.
- A key consideration is the economic incentives for refiners.
More About:
As a result of sharply increased corn prices that resulted from the drought this past summer, several states requested that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issue a waiver of the renewable fuel standard (RFS).
In making her August 14, 2012 plea “on behalf of the State of North Carolina,” Governor Beverly Perdue wrote: “I hereby request that the applicable volume of renewable fuel be waived... The imposition of a 15.2 billion gallon renewable fuel standard (RFS) in 2012, coupled with the prospect of a 16.55 billion gallon standard in 2012, has imposed severe economic harm to my state’s swine, poultry, dairy, and cattle producing regions.”
At the end of her letter she asserts: “Altogether, severe economic harm is being experienced by the State of North Carolina and many of its agricultural regions, as well as important economic sectors in the state, as a direct result of the implementation of the applicable volume requirements of the RFS. This harm could be alleviated by a waiver of the RFS applicable volume for renewable fuel in 2012 and 2013.
“Granting a waiver now would allow for the waiver to extend into the 2012 harvest season and a large part of the 2013 growing season. I therefore ask that you consider a full range of waiver options…including waiver of the full amount of the applicable volume of the RFS…to allow the maximum impact on the price of feed grain in 2012 and 2013.”
