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EPA announces final targets for next two years under Renewable Fuel Standards

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final targets for using renewable fuels in the next two years under what’s called the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The final numbers for biodiesel and ethanol are below the original numbers called for in the law. The ethanol numbers do not please Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director Monte Shaw.

The EPA is calling for use of just more than 14 billion gallons of ethanol for 2015 and 14-point-five billion gallons for 2016. Shaw says the E-P-A used the mythical “blend wall” or maximum amount of ethanol that can be used in the place of gasoline to justify its lowering of the R-F-S levels.

Shaw says the ruling goes against everything that was intended in setting the levels for renewable fuels.

Iowa is the nation’s leader in renewable fuels production. Iowa has 43 ethanol refineries capable of producing three-point-nine billion gallons of ethanol annually. Iowa also has 12 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce nearly 315 million gallons annually.

 

~Story contributed by reporters at Radio Iowa

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