gas and petroleum in the United States,
but fracking has really changed things,”
Grassley said. “Five or six years ago we
were building facilities to import liquefied
natural gas, and now we’re using those
same facilities to export it. ”
The powerful petroleum lobby is
constantly pushing back against the RFS
and the tax credit, but the Iowa senator
tirelessly defends biodiesel and carves
out every advantage he can get. “Big
Oil has always been a strong voice in
Congress and they don’t want to market
any products they don’t control, so they
have been a big obstacle to tax credits
and things of that nature,” he said. “It has
just been a constant fight.”
The assault on biodiesel intensified
in 2017 with the presidency of Donald
Trump who placed Scott Pruitt in charge
of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). The petroleum industry
stalwart quickly moved to curtail
renewable volume obligations (RVOs)
under the RFS. Grassley last year
convened a meeting in his office between
lawmakers and the new EPA chief that
helped turn the tide and save the RFS. “I
told Administrator Pruitt that supporting
biofuels isn’t just good policy, it’s also
what President Trump promised,” the
senator told reporters after the meeting.
“I reiterated what the President told
me personally and what he told Iowans
during the campaign, that he’s for
biofuels and for a strong RFS.”
Grassley also works to combat
misinformation about renewable fuels.
When Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES)
and other refiners recently blamed the
RFS for their financial struggles,
Grassley took action. “After I heard
that the Renewable Fuel Standard
was being blamed for the financial
troubles of some refineries, I
wanted to know more,” Grassley
said at the time. “So I asked my
staff to get to the bottom of the situation.
After reviewing the facts, I’m confident
that the Renewable Fuel Standard isn’t
harming refineries, that other factors are
at work, and that the RFS law is working
as Congress intended. Once these facts
are known, there ought to be an end to
the misleading rhetoric blaming the RFS.”
Grassley sees a bright future for
biodiesel. “It’s good for agriculture.
It’s good for jobs in rural America. It’s
good for the environment. It’s good for
national defense. When it all adds up,
everything about it is beneficial, and
there are no known negatives. So like the
1930s tune that Campbell’s Soup used to
sing, it’s mmm, mmm, good.”
2007the year the RFS was
expanded to include biodiesel
Chuck Grassley
U.S. Senator, IA
Biodiesel Success Stories 7