WASHINGTON -- Critics of the EPA’s rule setting biofuel mandates for transportation use overlook the Biden administration’s ongoing support for an “important industry in the Midwest,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday.
“The reality is no administration in my 30 years of dealing with this issue, no administration, has been more supportive of the biofuel industry than the Biden-Harris administration,” Vilsack said in response to a reporter’s question during a call where he announced the availability of nearly $500 million to improve and expand the distribution of ethanol and biodiesel.
Vilsack, a former Iowa governor and longtime biofuels supporter, cited the EPA’s approval in 2022 and 2023 of summer sales of gasoline blends of 15 percent ethanol, fewer waivers from biofuel requirements for refiners than during the Trump administration, and approval of petitions by eight states to sell E15 gasoline blends year-round starting in 2024.
