Carper, Coons, Blunt Rochester Statement on EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard Announcement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, along with U.S. Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (all D-Del.), today issued the following joint statement on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) finalized Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for 2020, 2021, and 2022 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. 

“We know many Delaware families and businesses are feeling the effects of several global crises, especially in higher prices at the pump. Given this historic uncertainty, we are encouraged by EPA’s decision to adhere to its previously proposed renewable fuel volume target for 2020. Still, we are disappointed the agency failed to adjust its 2022 volume obligations despite good reasons to do so. As we warned earlier this year, the 2022 levels do not reflect what is likely to occur in the fuels marketplace this year.

“Volatile prices for complying with the renewable fuels standard have already harmed our nation’s independent refineries this year. Those prices continue to trend toward record-breaking highs, squeezing our fuel producers as they look to comply with the program and creating uncertainty for the skilled union workers that are the backbone of our community and our regional economy. While we are disappointed with the final renewable fuels volume numbers released today, we are committed to working with organized labor, with our refinery, with the biofuel and farming communities, with our colleagues in Congress, and the Biden administration to find solutions to the challenges facing the RFS program. We remain committed to finding a path that not only achieves a quick transition toward more sustainable fuels, but also provides certainty and predictability for our refineries, our biofuel producers, and our Delaware workers and farmers.”