RFA Expects RFS Waiver to be Denied

By CnAgri2012-08-01 19:36:04 Print

Responding to plans by livestock and poultry groups to seek a waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard, the head of the Renewable Fuels Association expects the request to be denied.

"Given the flexibilities inherent to the RFS, and the fact that waiving the program would not result in any meaningful impacts on corn prices, we fully expect Administrator Jackson to deny any waiver request," said Bob Dinneen, RFA president and CEO. "A dispassionate review of the facts can lead to only one conclusion: a waiver of the RFS would simply reward oil companies that have long sought to repeal this very important and successful program. The RFS has reduced our dependence on imported oil and saved consumers at the pump."

Dinneen adds that this summer's dry weather conditions have caused significant challenges for all users of grain. But he says the RFS won't bring the type of relief the livestock groups are seeking, nor will it result in significantly lower feed prices.

"The marketplace is the most efficient mechanism to ration demand, not the government, and that is already happening," said Dinneen, who added that the ethanol industry has already begun to respond to sharply higher corn prices by significantly reducing production.

Despite the downturn in production and continued demand rationing by the ethanol industry, obligated parties (petroleum refiners and blenders) should have no problem meeting the RFS, he says.