Wallaces Farmer

Renewable Fuels Association honors Iowa Gov. Branstad

Gov. Terry Branstad is presented with RFA's 2016 Industry Award for his unwavering support of ethanol.

February 24, 2016

3 Min Read

In recognition of his years of strongly supporting biofuels and the U.S. ethanol industry, the Renewable Fuels Association has chosen Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as the recipient of the RFA 2016 Industry Award. Rick Schwarck, president of Absolute Energy, an ethanol plant in northeast Iowa, presented Gov. Branstad the award at a ceremony Feb. 5 at the governor’s mansion in Des Moines, Iowa. A video of the award ceremony was shown last week at the 21st Annual National Ethanol Conference in New Orleans. The Industry Award is bestowed annually to individuals who demonstrate great dedication and innovation within the industry.

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Fought to build and maintain Iowa as nation’s ethanol leader
“Gov. Branstad, you have been one of the most passionate, articulate, and effective advocates for value-added agriculture, farmers and ethanol,” said Schwarck. “You have fought battles in our state to build and maintain the nation’s largest and most competitive ethanol industry. You have fought the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as it has tried to undermine the effectiveness of various renewable fuels programs. And you have made ethanol a defining issue in Iowa and across the country in this year’s presidential campaign.”

Gov. Branstad is the longest-serving governor in American history, and is currently serving his sixth non-consecutive term after first being elected to office in 1983. Bob Dinneen, RFA president and CEO, noted that the Iowa governor has been a stalwart champion of the Renewable Fuel Standard since its inception.

“Gov. Branstad was a founding member of the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition, and throughout his career he has worked tirelessly on behalf of our nation’s ethanol producers and farmers,” said Dinneen. “I can think of no better recipient for this year’s RFA Industry Award. The people of Iowa are lucky to have a man of such vision and character leading their state.”

National Biodiesel Board files RFS petition in Federal Court
In other news about renewable fuels, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) recently filed a petition to defend the biodiesel industry’s interest under the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS), with the federal court. The petition contests the Environmental Protection Agency’s view, use of its waiver authority and its reductions in the statutory Advanced Biofuel volumes within the RFS program. This is one of several lawsuits filed by renewable fuels investors within the last several weeks regarding the RFS volumes finalized last year.

NBB will likely challenge additional lawsuits on EPA’s behalf to defend the agency’s handling of other aspects of the RFS program, such as supporting EPA’s authority to provide for increases in the biomass-based diesel program against challenges by the petroleum industry; as well as challenging other areas of EPA’s final RFS standards for 2014-2016.

Petroleum industry is challenging EPA’s biodiesel RFS standards
NBB made the following statement in regard to the recent lawsuit, “We appreciate the work that the EPA did last year to improve the final RFS rule to pave the way for modest growth in the Biomass-based Diesel category and to get the RFS program back on track. And as we have in the past, we will likely be intervening on EPA’s behalf in defense of the program against other lawsuits. But we have significant concerns in this rule about the EPA’s use of waiver authority and the methodology the EPA used to reduce the statutorily required Advanced Biofuel volumes. The law requires that the EPA should be establishing the strongest standards possible to ensure that the RFS is stimulating the production of Advanced Biofuels like biodiesel and renewable diesel, and we believe they fell short of that requirement.”

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