Biodiesel board praises governors' letter to Trump

     The Iowa Biodiesel Board applauded the submission of a letter to President Trump from four Midwestern governors, led by Iowa’s Gov. Kim Reynolds, urging him to protect renewable fuels and keep his promise to support rural America.

     The letter, dated Oct. 16, urges the president to intervene in the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent move towards reducing minimum biodiesel volumes under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard program. This would include cutting volumes for 2018 that were finalized almost a year ago, as well as even deeper cuts to the proposed 2019 volumes.

     Grant Kimberley, IBB executive director, and director of market development for the Iowa Soybean Association, issued the following statement:

     “On behalf of the biodiesel industry, the thousands of workers whose livelihoods depend on this manufacturing sector, and the farmers who have been able to hold on to their family farms during recent hard times in agriculture, I thank Governor Reynolds for her leadership in defending biodiesel in the face of this new threat. We’re grateful that Governor Reynolds and other governors have jumped to biodiesel’s defense as EPA makes unprecedented moves to weaken biodiesel in the Renewable Fuel Standard.

     “Anything that would undermine the RFS is a serious issue for Iowa and U.S. agriculture at a time when the farm economy is already enduring a downturn. We do not believe President Trump wants to decimate an industry that has become a shining American manufacturing success story, and send rural communities backwards after biofuels helped them rebound in previous decades.

     “We believe the Administration should go in the opposite direction, and be more aggressive in meeting Congress’s goals by increasing biodiesel and other advanced biofuels. This would create more jobs, improve the economy, and benefit public health and the environment throughout the country. We thank the governors for speaking out on this important issue.”