Hinson Slams President Biden on Broken Promises to Farmers After EPA Retroactively Cuts Blending Requirements

"Today is the day President Biden has abandoned Iowa's family farmers and biofuels producers. Disregarding deadlines and changing finalized mandates is a slap in the face to Iowa's family farmers and is in complete contrast to President Biden's campaign promises to support biofuels--promises that we now know to be lies and lip service.  

"While I am extremely disappointed by this action, I'm not surprised. In preparation for this, I recently introduced the bipartisan Defend the Blend Act, a bill to prohibit the EPA from retroactively reducing RVO levels that have already been finalized, leading to government-induced instability in our agriculture and biofuel markets. We must pass my legislation right away to provide the certainty to Iowa's biofuels community that the Biden Administration is destroying.” -Congresswoman Ashley Hinson

Background:

• On the campaign trail, then-candidate Biden stated, "Lip service 50 days before an election won’t make up for nearly four years of retroactive damage that’s decimated our trade economy and forced ethanol plants to shutter.” He also stated that "we are going to invest in renewable energy and biofuels, creating millions and millions of new jobs along the way." 
• In December of 2019, the EPA finalized a rule stating that 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels would have to be blended into transportation fuel across the nation in 2020.
• Today, the EPA announced that they’re changing that requirement and letting refiners off the hook for 2.5 billion gallons of biofuels that they were legally responsible for blending.
• Instead of holding refiners accountable, the Biden Administration is giving them a pass for not meeting blending requirements and leaving family farmers and biofuel producers out to dry. 
• Hinson's bipartisan Defend the Blend Act would prevent the Administration from retroactively reducing blending requirements.