Trump’s Ethanol Announcement Is Good News for Kansas Farmers

Kansas corn producers received positive news today with the announcement that President Trump has directed EPA to support the provisions of the Renewable Fuel Standard. The RFS had been undermined by EPA’s unprecedented refinery waivers in recent years, directly impacting ethanol demand and corn prices.

Today’s announcement that EPA will reopen the rulemaking for the 2020 RFS volumes and will propose to redistribute waived ethanol gallons back into the volume requirements begins a process for EPA to follow the law and should restore integrity to the RFS.

The Kansas Corn Growers Association asked its members to contact the Trump Administration to support the RFS law. They joined corn farmers and ethanol supporters across the nation asking President Trump to roll back EPA actions that undermine the RFS. The RFS is crucial to ethanol producers because it provides access to the fuel market. Leaders with National Corn Growers, the ethanol industry and state corn leaders were unwavering in their efforts to help the administration understand the strain EPA’s waivers had put on corn farmers and ethanol producers.

“It’s good to have positive news to share with our growers. We’d like to thank every Kansas farmer who responded to our calls to action to help Washington DC understand how their actions were hurting corn farmers and rural America,” said KCGA President Steve Rome. “We’d like to thank President Trump for listening to us and taking action to keep the RFS law intact.”

Kansas Corn CEO Greg Krissek said today’s announcement begins a process to address the ethanol demand lost due to the refinery waivers. “The Administration is doing the right thing legally by beginning a process to redistribute those waived gallons back into the RFS volumes, upholding the integrity of the law,” he said.

In addition to the commitment to redistribute waived gallons, the Administration is also proposing to take further steps supported by farmers, including removing additional barriers and supporting infrastructure to help grow demand for higher blends of ethanol. Kansas corn, sorghum and ethanol organizations, along with the Kansas Department of Agriculture matched funding from USDA’s 2015 Biofuels Infrastructure Program (BIP) and implemented a state program to increase ethanol blender pumps in Kansas. The Kansas Corn Commission continues to fund and implement ethanol infrastructure efforts.

“The infrastructure piece is especially important to the Kansas Corn Commission. We partnered with other groups to implement the USDA program to build ethanol infrastructure for higher blends of ethanol with Kansas fuel retailers. We have continued those efforts tripling the number of stations offering higher ethanol blends across Kansas. We look forward to working with USDA to build on our success.” Kansas Corn leader Dennis McNinch of Arnold said. McNinch serves on the NCGA Corn Board and is chairman of the Kansas Corn Commission.