NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Contact: Paul Winters
 202-737-8803
pwinters@biodiesel.org

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and 20 additional senators sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to immediately reject petitions for a general waiver of the 2020 Renewable Fuel Standard. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) thanks the Senators for supporting biodiesel producers and echoes their conclusion that waiving the RFS will cause unnecessary harm to the rural economy.

Kurt Kovarik, NBB's VP of Federal Affairs, said, "America's biodiesel producers appreciate the strong leadership of Senators Ernst, Smith, Grassley and Stabenow in opposing efforts to undermine the Renewable Fuel Standard. Biodiesel and renewable diesel producers are an important part of the nation's critical agriculture infrastructure, which is already experiencing painful effects of the national economic crisis. Maintaining a strong RFS will be important to the rural economy's recovery.

"An RFS waiver would simply prevent biofuel producers, farmers and other agricultural sectors from fully sharing in any economic recovery this year. RFS requirements do not contribute to the crisis, because they are set as percentages that rise and fall in direct proportion with transportation fuel demand."

A copy of the Senators' letter is available for download.

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. It is the nation's first domestically produced, commercially available advanced biofuel. NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel and renewable diesel value chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers, and fuel distributors.

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For more about biodiesel, visit www.biodiesel.org.