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Gov. Nixon statement on EPA’s final Renewable Fuel Standard

JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Jay Nixon today issued the following statement regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations for 2016. In May, the EPA proposed to set the 2016 volume requirements under the RFS at 17.4 billion gallons, including 14 billion gallons for corn-based ethanol. Today, EPA established the final 2016 volume requirements under the RFS at 18.11 billion gallons, of which 14.5 billion gallons is corn-based ethanol.

“While I am disappointed that the EPA’s final standards still fall below the requirements established by Congress in 2005, the final rule does represent an improvement over the draft put forward earlier this year,” Gov. Nixon said. “A strong market for ethanol provides consumers with greater options at the pump, strengthens rural communities and boosts American energy independence. Although the EPA did not go nearly far enough, the final rule is a clear recognition of the strong and united message that leaders from the heartland will continue to send to Washington that the EPA can and should enforce the renewable fuel standards enacted by Congress for the benefit of all Americans.”

In June, Gov. Nixon joined Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad to testify at a public hearing regarding the proposed standards at which he urged the EPA to increase and align the RFS targets with those that Congress intended. Gov. Nixon currently serves as the vice chairman of the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition. The 33-state bipartisan organization was founded more than 20 years ago to increase the use of ethanol based fuels, decrease the nation’s dependence on imported energy resources, improve the environment and stimulate the national economy. Gov. Nixon will become chairman of the group in January 2016.