The National Chicken Council, along with a coalition of 10 other meat and poultry, dairy, and feed groups, sent a letter on Monday to the House Energy and Commerce Committee supporting EPA’s proposed decrease to the Renewable Fuel Standard. The proposed mandate requires refiners to blend up to 13 billion gallons of conventional biofuels into gasoline, instead of the originally mandated 14.4 billion gallons.
In addition to supporting the EPA’s proposed reduction to the conventional biofuels mandate in its letter, the coalition requested a hearing to be held on Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte’s “RFS Reform Act of 2013,” which addresses some of the unintended, negative impacts the RFS has and continues to have on farmers, consumers, businesses, and the U.S. economy. In addition to other adjustments to the RFS, the bill eliminates the corn mandate, and caps the ethanol-gasoline blend at 10 percent.
“We understand it is the responsibility of Congress to find a much more lasting solution to this misguided program, and we feel a hearing on the RFS from a farm and food point of view will help Congress move in the right direction,” the letter concluded. The entire letter is available here.
