Biofuel Mandate Opponents Build Overhaul Momentum

A Trump administration and new leadership of the Senate’s environment committee may breathe new life into efforts to roll back the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel standard, lawmakers and advocates say.  House members are continuing to build momentum around bipartisan legislation (H.R. 5180) to limit EPA ethanol requirements in total transportation fuel at 9.7 percent. Opponents of the mandate also are happy about the likely selection of Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a staunch repeal supporter, as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, arguing he may help to convince the Trump administration to approve the changes they want. Current statute requires the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuel throughout the transportation fuel supply chain by 2022, while establishing different volume mandates for conventional, advanced and cellulosic biofuels.