Outgoing Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the Renewable Fuel Standard will survive a Donald Trump administration because ethanol is too well-established in rural areas. Vilsack says the RFS “supports too many jobs” for a Trump administration to dismantle the law. U.S. ethanol production has more than doubled since 2007, when the current form of the law was enacted, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Farm Futures reports that President-elect Trump told the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association earlier this year that the U.S. should increase ethanol mandates, but in September his campaign published a fact sheet calling for the removal of the biofuel blending credit system. His campaign later reissued the fact sheet without the language opposing the system. Vilsack said rural support for the RFS would be enough to withstand attacks. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is due to release the final 2017 RFS by the end of this month. The statute requires ethanol volumes for 2017 to be set at 15 billion gallons. However, the EPA proposed earlier this year to set the volume target at 14.8 billion gallons.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.