Biofuels Feud; Changes in RFS
**Fuels America, a coalition of biofuels advocates, says it has “severed ties” with the Renewable Fuels Association, accusing the group of siding with billionaire investor and refinery owner Carl Icahn in a plan, denied by the White House, that would “permanently destabilize the Renewable Fuel Standard.”
The brouhaha erupted last week when RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen said he’d been alerted by a White House official that an executive order had been drafted that would shift the “point of obligation” under the RFS from certain oil refiners.
Dinneen says he’s been told the executive order is “not negotiable.”
**Iowa Governor Terry Branstad says there’s no truth to the reports that the Trump Administration is going to alter Renewable Fuels Standard procedures.
Branstad says despite the rumors, he’s been assured by a lot of people that it will not happen.
News reports have indicated the administration wants to shift the burden for complying with the biofuel quotas from refiners to fuel blenders. Branstad says that would be impractical.
**While there are concerns in the ag industry about the renegotiation of NAFTA, not everyone disagrees with the Trump Administration’s stance.
Former president of the American Soybean Association and Iowa farmer Ray Gaesser says NAFTA has been very good for US agriculture, but he says the program is more than 20 years old and could probably use an update.
But, specialty crop grower Jay Hill from New Mexico tells Brownfield NAFTA is a broken system.