The agency received 40 requests for the 2018 compliance year and prior to Friday (August 9), data showed two had been withdrawn/declared ineligible. The data now show that 31 have been granted, six denied and three were withdrawn/declared ineligible.
The data also show that EPA has now denied a request for the 2016 compliance year and one for the 2017 compliance year that had previously been showing as pending in the data until the update on Friday.
The 31 requests granted for the 2018 compliance year is down from 35 granted for the 2017 compliance year but still above the 19 approved for the 2016 compliance year and seven approved for 2015 and eight each for the 2013 and 2014 compliance years.
As expected, the news has not been welcomed by biofuel supporters. House Ag Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., expressed disappointment at the data released Friday. “The Administration tried to bury bad news for rural America by quietly approving 31 more waivers this Friday afternoon that undermine the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the market for corn,” Petersons said in a statement. “On Wednesday, I hosted a packed forum at Farmfest with Secretary Perdue where farmers raised this issue again and again. Farmers are on the front lines of the tariff war and this announcement by the EPA will only make things worse.”
Other biofuel backers offered similar negative reactions.
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