First District U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer, D-IA, toured Absolute Energy LLC, in rural St. Ansgar, on Oct. 9 to talk shop with the biofuel producers.
Her visit coincidentally overlapped U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue’s trip to the state to spotlight recently signed legislation which reverses course on years-long policies put into place by the Trump administration which gave favor to oil refineries over biodiesel producers.
The bill provides resources for the development of infrastructure to expand the use of E15 gas across the country and eliminates future issuances of stop-gap waivers. The change should give corn growers and bioenergy producers some much-needed breathing room amid a period of financial strain put on the ethanol industry by past policies.
Finkenauer said she’s part of a bicameral and bipartisan group pursuing an investigation with the Government Accountability Office into the practices of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Trump administration to determine why the previous biofuel policies, which she said defied the laws as they were written, were able to be enacted in the first place.
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A noted advocate of biofuel expansion, Finkenauer, is encouraged by the administration’s turnabout, but believes efforts to provide relief to growers should be ongoing. “We’re happy about some of the new rules around E15, however, that, to me, doesn’t go far enough,” Finkenauer said.
The congresswoman said the process, as it stands, allows states to opt out of adding the cleaner-burning E15 blend to their gas pumps. States with ties to the oil industries are more apt to shy away from the expansion, she said. Which means less production of ethanol and financial uncertainty for the biofuel industry.
“I’d like to see, instead of just having states decide if they want to be able to use [E15] at the pumps, make it a more uniform process across the country. Some of your bigger states will absolutely opt out of it because of how this rule works," Finkenauer said.
"So there’s plenty more to do to make sure that industries like this (biofuel producers) in Iowa are able to stay open and create good jobs.”
Lisa Grouette is a Photographer and Reporter for the Globe Gazette. You can reach her at 641-421-0525 or lisa.grouette@globegazette.com. Follow Lisa on Twitter @LisaGrouette