14 May Renew Kansas urges Congressional delegation support of biofuels funding in HEROES Act
Renew Kansas Biofuels Association sent a letter to the Kansas Congressional delegation urging their support of biofuels relief funding outlined in the House of Representatives recently-introduced Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act.
The letter, sent to Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran and Representatives Sharice Davids, Ron Estes, Dr. Roger Marshall and Steve Watkins, called the delegations’ attention to the more than $2.25 billion set aside for biofuels relief amid the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In Kansas, we currently have two ethanol plants who were forced to shut down and almost all have been forced to dramatically reduce production,” Renew Kansas President and CEO Seeber said. “As U.S. biofuel plants purchase more than one-third of U.S. corn, sorghum and soybean oil annually, the loss of those markets has depressed farm income and will continue to push commodity prices down dramatically.”
The biofuels portion of the HEROES Act would authorize the U.S.D.A. to provide ethanol producers an incentive of $0.45 per gallon for each gallon of ethanol produced from January 1 through May 1, 2020. In addition, ethanol producers forced offline for one or more calendar months during this time would qualify for the same credit, based on half the volume produced during the corresponding month or months in 2019.
Despite anticipated negotiation on parts of the HEROES Act, Renew Kansas made it clear to the state’s elected officials the biofuels portion would provide immediate and meaningful assistance to the biofuels industry to address the demand destruction caused by the pandemic.